This article provides an insight into the public journalism discussion and offers a way of understanding how journalists at local, regional and national levels interpret and practise public journalism slightly differently. Journalists\u27 interpretations of participatory public journalism initiatives in three Finnish newspapers from local, regional and national public spheres are used as a point of departure for discussing professionalism in journalism. The paper argues that professionalism offers a way to articulate journalists\u27 relations to the market, administration and the public in different ways in different public spheres.Članek obravnava razlike v interpretacijah in izvajanju javnega novinarstva na lokalni, regionalni in nacionalni ravni. Novinarske interpretacije iniciativ za participativno javno novinarstvo na treh ravneh predstavljajo izhodišče razprave o profesionalizmu v novinarstvu. Avtorica dokazuje, da profesionalizem odpira pot za različno artikulacijo odnosov novinarjev do trga, uprave in javnosti v različnih javnih sferah
