Professional roles and news construction: a media sociology conceptualization of journalists’ role conception and performance

Journalists’ professional roles entail an important research area, which enhances knowledge on journalism’s attempted impact on political and democratic life. Journalism scholars, however, tend not to study journalistic professional roles from its impact on news content but focus on journalists’ conception of their role concluding that the way journalists conceive of their role will eventually shape the stories they produce. Hence, the link between role conception and role performance (i.e., its impact on news) has caught more attention as a justification of research interest than as loci of empirical examination. This conceptual paper revisits this assumption, arguing for an indepth discussion of what the concept of professional role entails to understand its manifestation in news. As journalistic performance must be considered a collective outcome, this article addresses the concept of professional role from its relationship to structural characteristics of media work. Our approach suggests a media sociology conceptualization of professional roles that takes into consideration the gatekeeping context, and most importantly the organizational and societal levels, when analyzing professional roles of journalists

Supplemental Material - Future conceptual challenges of cross-border journalism

Supplemental Material for Future conceptual challenges of cross-border journalism by Lea Hellmueller and Peter Berglez in Journalism</p

Attempts on Conceptualizing Cross-Border Journalism

This chapter examines current attempts of conceptualizing cross-border journalism (CBJ). It asks which theoretical frameworks exist to conceptualize, structure, and analyze cross-border journalism. For this purpose, we provide a definition of cross-border journalism in the introduction. In section “Conceptualizing Cross-border Journalism,” we distinguish between approaches that are grounded in empirical research and normative demands of how cross-border journalism should be. We then present conceptualizations and categorizations of characteristics of cross-border journalism, followed by more elaborate approaches that offer analytical frameworks for research on cross-border journalism. A separate section is devoted to theories on cross-border journalism’s audiences, before we pose some critical questions in our concluding remarks

Contextualización de los roles periodísticos cívicos y del perro guardián: reevaluación del desempeño del rol periodístico en los periódicos estadounidenses

This study examines the two dominant U.S. journalism models—the watchdog and civic-oriented professional performance—in the after math of the economic crises. The study, based on a content analysis of 1,421 news stories published by five national U.S. dailies, measures journalists’ role conception through a content analysis of newspaper articles, examining the concept of journalistic role performance. The findings indicate different  contextualizations of the two roles: The civic journalism performance was mostly found in stories dealing with issues such as human rights, demonstrations, and religion. The watchdog model was found in stories dealing with religion as well, but was found more frequently than the civic model in stories covering the government, police and crime. While the overall results indicate shifting roles of journalists toward a more civic approach, the traditional watchdog role remains important in covering politics. The roles journalists perform and their implications for U.S. news coverage are discussed.doi: 10.5294/pacla.2016.19.4.6Este estudo examina os dois modelos jornalísticos dominantes nos Estados Unidos, o cão guardião e o desempenho profissional orientado à cidadania,depois das crises econômicas. O estudo, baseado em uma análise deconteúdo de 1,421 notícias publicadas por cinco diários nacionais dos Estados Unidos, avalia a concepção do papel dos jornalistas através de uma análise de conteúdo de artigos jornalísticos, examinando o conceito de desempenho do papel jornalístico. Os resultados indicam uma contextualização diferente para cada um dos dois papeis: o desempenho do jornalismo cívico foi encontrado principalmente em histórias que tratavam temas como direitos humanos, demonstrações e religião. O modelo do cão guardião também foi encontrado em histórias que tratavam a religião, mas eramais frequente do que o modelo cívico em histórias que cobriam o governo,a polícia e o crime. Embora os resultados gerais indiquem a mudança de papeis dos jornalistas rumo a um enfoque mais cívico, o papel tradicionaldo cão guardião continua sendo importante na cobertura de política. Analisam-se as funções desempenhadas pe los jornalistas e suas implicaçõespara a cobertura de notícias nos Estados Unidos.Este estudio examina los dos modelos periodísticos dominantes en Estados Unidos, el perro guardián y el desempeño profesional orientado a la ciudadana, después de las crisis económicas. El estudio, basado en un análisis de contenido de 1,421 noticias publicadas por cinco diarios nacionales de Estados Unidos, mide la concepción del papel de los periodistas a través de un análisis de contenido de artículos periodísticos, examinando el concepto de desempeño de rol periodístico. Los resultados indican una contextualización diferente para cada uno de los dos roles: el desempeño del periodismo cívico se encontró principalmente en historias que trataban temas como derechos humanos, demostraciones y religión. El modelo del perro guardián también se encontró en historias que trataban la religión, pero era más frecuente que el modelo cívico en historias que cubrían el Gobierno, la Policía y el crimen. Si bien los resultados generales indican el cambio de roles de los periodistas hacia un enfoque más cívico, el rol tradicional del perro guardián sigue siendo importante en la cobertura política. Se analizan las funciones que desempeñan los periodistas y sus implicaciones para la cobertura de noticias en Estados Unidos

The hybridization of journalistic cultures : a comparative study of journalistic role performance

Influential research on comparative media systems identifies distinctive models according to which certain countries—particularly advanced democracies—share key features in their journalistic cultures. Revisionist literature has not only emphasized the limitations of such models, but also highlighted the hybridization of journalistic cultures elsewhere. This article tests the hybridization thesis, analyzing the presence of six journalistic roles in print news from 19 countries (N = 34,514). Our findings show patterns of multilayered hybridization in the performance of professional roles across and within advanced, transitional, and nondemocratic countries, with journalistic cultures displaying different types of hybridity that do not resemble either existing ideal media system typologies or conventional assumptions about political or regional clusters. The implications of these findings for future studies are discussed