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Students’ appreciation of journalists’ roles in cuba, ecuador and venezuela

Abstract:

The pre-professional journalistic culture of Ecuador, Cuba and Venezuela is studied based on the perception that students of Social Communication and Journalism have about the professional roles of journalists and their motivations, expectations and professional expe-riences. For this analysis, a total of 1273 students from 21 universities enrolled in Social Communication and Journalism degrees were surveyed during the first semester of 2016 (Ecuador = 500, Venezuela = 390, Cuba = 383). This sample is statistically representa-tive with a confidence level of 95 per cent and a margin of error of maximum 5 per cent. The results indicate that students in Ecuador, Cuba and Venezuela, despite the disparity and polarization of opinions, consider that the role of ‘civic agent/disseminator’ is the one that best fits the main functions of journalists and journalism, without forgetting their critical and patriotic feeling in favour of a social change and national development.