The two faces of Generation Z’s and Millennials in Journalism education

Abstract

University education is one of the key factors in the redefinition of journalist’s role. Also, the transformation of the information industry and the increasing number of professionals learning in the universities, feeds even more the need to understand what happens in this formative stage. In other hand, a hyper-connected generation that wants all immediately, that lives in mobility and ready to consume in multiple formats; currently are occupying the universities classrooms. They are the generation of future journalism professionals in their formative stage. What is happening in the classrooms of today’s universities? Are they permeable to the characteristics of this generation? Based on a survey of 276 students of Journalism Degree from two universities, one public and the other one private, this paper tries to know the consumption habits and uses of ICT in the university context. The results draw a dual profile. In the university context the students adopt an asynchronous, static and textual behavior. In the non-university context these same students become more synchronous, mobility and audiovisual adopting the characteristically behavior of this generation.