Onde se informar? O consumo de informações por estudantes de Jornalismo

Abstract

With the intense use of digital social media platforms and/or messaging apps – such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp and others – the way people search for information has changed enormously. This research sought to analyze the information consumption preferences of undergraduate Journalism students, investigating students from two public institutions in Teresina (PI): Universidade Estadual do Piauí (UESPI) and Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI). Based on the application of a questionnaire, which reached 102 responses from the students, we sought to understand where future journalists in the capital of Piauí are getting their information and to evaluate what reasons lead them to prefer this way of searching for or accessing information. As a theoretical basis, this work is based on concepts of the Political Economy of Communication (PEC) and on studies on the growth of digital platforms, as well as the role they start to play in the distribution/consumption of information, focusing, in particular, on future professionals in the area. Based on the data obtained, the study reflects on the current context of information consumption by Journalism students and encourages reflection on the possible impacts that this context has on the production, circulation and consumption of news and the training of journalists.