ABSTRACT

This study builds on the communication mediation model of political socialization and self-efficacy research, and focuses on journalism civic self-efficacy, an individual’s confidence in using journalistic skills to promote the awareness of a community issue. The study tests the premise that journalism civic self-efficacy explains, in part, how journalism education supports individuals’ political participation, by examining links between political interest, journalism civic self-efficacy, school and classroom contexts, and future political participation with data from U.S. high school journalists (n = 769) and their teachers (n = 42). The study’s key results are: (1) journalism civic self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between political interest and prospective political participation, and (2) journalism civic self-efficacy increases when students feel a supportive school climate and when their instructors exert little control over students’ journalistic output. These results can inform the design of journalism education and outreach initiatives, prioritizing activities and settings that cultivate journalism civic self-efficacy among participants. The findings also highlight the value of such initiatives regardless of whether or not participants pursue newsroom careers. The study contributes empirical evidence to civic development literature of a pathway between journalism education and political participation, distinct from other school-sponsored activities (i.e., debate, student government).

摘要

本研究建立在政治社会化和自​​我效能研究的传播调解模型之上，重点关注新闻公民自我效能，即个人使用新闻技能提高对社区问题意识的信心。该研究通过检验政治兴趣、新闻公民自我效能、学校和课堂环境以及未来政治参与之间的联系，检验了新闻公民自我效能感部分解释新闻教育如何支持个人政治参与的前提。美国高中记者（n  =769）和他们的老师（n = 42). 该研究的主要结果是：(1) 新闻公民自我效能在政治兴趣与预期政治参与之间的关系中起到部分中介作用，以及 (2) 当学生感受到支持性的学校氛围并且他们的教师几乎没有控制时，新闻公民自我效能会增加关于学生的新闻输出。这些结果可以为新闻教育和外展计划的设计提供信息，优先考虑在参与者中培养新闻公民自我效能的活动和环境。调查结果还强调了此类举措的价值，无论参与者是否从事新闻编辑工作。该研究为新闻教育和政治参与之间的途径的公民发展文献提供了实证证据，