The Role of Media in the Formation of Professional Identity of Young People (Case Study of Students Majoring in "State and Municipal Administration")

Modern media are a powerful tool for influencing attitudes, behavioral patterns, values of young people, including their professional orientations and professional identity.The media image of a profession performs rational-cognitive (gaining knowledge, ideas about professional activity) and emotional-evaluative functions (formation of an emotional framework of motivational attitudes).The author set the goal to determine the influence of media on the formation of professional identity of young people.As an example, a case of students of the training program "State and Municipal Administration" was taken.In the course of the work, qualitative research methods were used, the results of a focus group interview of students were analyzed.The results of the study showed that students experience a lack of comprehensive, complete and reliable information about the activities of municipal employees.Information in order to attract attention is often presented in a negative interpretation, the everyday nature of the work of municipal employees is excluded from the field of view of modern media.The negative media image of the profession has a destructive effect on the processes of formation of professional identity of students.The article presents the areas of media literacy education for students studying in the field of "State and municipal administration": the formation of an internal locus of control in the processes of searching and selecting information, understanding the selective specificity of the action of digital algorithms, subjective limitations in the practice of data analysis, development of ethical standards for working with information, anticipation of the consequences of the dissemination of information and its impact on various socio-demographic groups.Personal narrative stories of representatives of a professional group are of particular interest to students.The personalized nature of the information, according to students, allows for a correlation between personal attitudes and real requirements for professional activity, and an assessment of the prospects for implementing successful professional trajectories.