Professional Requirements for Journalistic Profession: Competency Approach

M. Butyrina, M. Anikeienko

Abstract


The purpose of the study was to identify the mainstream journalistic competencies which are demanded by the employment market today.

Research methods. With the help of content analysis of vacancy announcements for journalists, the most frequent professional requirements addressed to applicants by employers for the relevant positions were identified. The sample consisted of vacancy advertisements from two popular job search websites work.ua and ua.jooble.org with a total of 70 text units. The chronological boundaries of the sample amounted to 1 month. Territorial borders are the cities of Dnipro and Kyiv. The identified professional requirements were systematised on the basis of Z. Weischenberg competency model supplemented by the latest journalistic competencies, which were updated in connection with the needs of the time. Methods of analysis such as synthesis and generalisation were used to interpret the results of content analysis.

Results. The conducted content-analytical research allowed to draw conclusions about the ratio of both established and new competencies that characterise the journalistic profession. It was found that journalistic skills, represented by a number of instrumental skills, define all the types of journalistic positions, regardless of specialisation and functional features. The results of the content analysis also allowed us to state the interest of employers in the skills required when working in cross-media and social networks. Higher education as a requirement for candidates was presented in less than 50% of advertisements, while the experience was updated in almost 80% of the analysed vacancies. These data correlate with today’s popular approaches to the deinstitutionalisation of journalism education, its transfer to the practical-applied field. In the United States, in particular, it is presented by the model of education as a training hospital, while in Germany it is built in accordance with the Dortmund model. It is stated that the practice of opening of media-based schools of journalism is gradually being introduced in Ukraine.

Novelty. For the first time, professional requirements for journalists were systematised on the basis of content analysis of vacancy advertisements. Competency priorities of employers were revealed.

Practical significance. The results and conclusions can be used to optimise the competency model of journalism education.

Key words: competencies, professional requirements, journalism, employment market, media industry, model of journalism education.


References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.32840/cpu2219-8741/2021.3(47).11

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