How American and Chinese Journalism Students Prioritize Values

Abstract

This study found that Chinese journalism students and American journalism students are more different than similar in their value systems. Overall, American students give greater weight to social-interaction values and self-improvement values, and Chinese students give greater importance to morality-oriented values and competency-oriented values. Both groups prioritize “honest” and “responsible” as among the top five values. American students, however, give priority to the values of “courageous,” “ambitious,” and “broadminded,” whereas Chinese students give priority to the values of “civic-minded,” “justice,” and “aboveboard.” Furthermore, Chinese students rank “justice” higher than American students do. Although their similar rankings on honesty and responsibility may suggest that the Chinese and U.S. students share some common understanding of journalism practice, their differing rankings of the values may reflect the social and media realities in which the students study and practice journalism.