This study investigates the factors influencing university students’ intentions to pursue careers in the Bangladeshi media industry, concentrating primarily on the socio-economic background, personal attributes, sectoral interests and negative insights of the profession. The study uses a cross-sectional survey to collect data from 340 students of the journalism discipline at 16 public and private universities based on stratified random sampling. Chi-square tests, ordinal regression and the Spearman rank-order correlations were employed to observe the relationships among major variables. The results indicate that students from affluent families exhibit a greater interest in media careers. The academic year was a major factor, with first-year students being more likely to work in media than students in later years. In addition, Students who wanted to work in newsrooms, digital media and news presentation were more likely to make a career in media. On the other hand, negative perceptions, particularly ethical considerations, the job environment and corporate intrusion, were strongly interconnected to lower career goals in media. This study provides a theory-driven explanation of how self-efficacy, structural resources and perceived barriers influence the decisions regarding media careers in the Global South, integrating Human Capital Theory and Social Cognitive Theory into research design and interpreting the findings. These results further underscore the difficulties of making professional decisions in the media industry and highlight the importance of overcoming structural barriers, increasing industry standards, and providing precise support toward a media career.
Mursalin et al. (Thu,) studied this question.