National Survey of New Zealand Journalists A Summary Report

In order to develop strategies for training future journalists, the New Zealand Council for Educational Research sponsored a survey of all journalists in all branches of the profession in New Zealand in 1987. The response rate was over 46%; 1,249 New Zealand journalists returned the survey. Major findings revealed that: (1) the proportion of female journalists is steadily increasing; (2) journalism continues to be a "young" profession; (3) less than 5% of the respondents were members of ethnic minorities; (4) most journalists had been educated in New Zealand state schools, and nearly two-thirds had some university study; (5) over one-third had attended a formal pre-entry training course prior to entering journalism; (6) over 60% been working in journalism for less than 10 years and over one-third had chosen it as their first job; (7) considerable numbers of journalists had worked overseas; (8) a large majority judged off-the job training to be valuable; (9) fewer than one-third had received formal in-office training in the previous 10 years, but those who had received training judged it to be helpful; (10) encouragement from superiors is regarded as the most important influence in the professional development of journalists, together with on-going training and preentry training; (11) 91% believed their own organization should provide more training, and 89% felt there was a case for increased training nationally, with training in research/critical analysis and grammar being the most pressing areas. (ARH)