Sociocultural processes, including those affecting the media (commercialization, convergence, digitalization of journalism), force methodologists, sociologists, and practical journalists to reconsider the conditions for the formation of identity (primarily professional) of students at the university. We need new approaches, concepts, models of media education that would meet the new challenges of the time. In this article, on the basis of psychological research and questionnaires of first-year students of SurGPU, problems in the adaptation and formation of future journalists within the educational process are identified, problematic issues are identified, and ways of solving them are proposed. The author believes that the main condition contributing to the successful formation of professional identification of students, the development of necessary competencies, increased motivation will be the creation of a holistic educational space, «media park» (M. Yu. Ershov), in which professional cases would be modeled, and students of different courses would prepare original media products (project method) with a pronounced social orientation.