Student perceptions of journalism as an occupation: The view from the front of the class

News media managers routinely complain that university journalism programs are out of sync with practice. Yet their views are not always shared by academics in journalism programs or by journalists. This raises questions about how the views of journalism held by journalism students are formed. What students are exposed to during their studies exercises a major influence on their perceptions. Information was collected from students about (a) mainly classroom learning; (b) industry internships; and (c) a voluntary cooperative activity. Their feedback indicated that, while overlapping, each experience illuminated a somewhat different journalism "reality". This suggests that if students were exposed to a range of experience of journalism, they would form differing opinions of the occupation; that work integrated learning (WIL) in particular would help them make sense of various journalism "realities" and that more research is required into this aspect of journalism education.