Beyond Journalistic Norms: Role Performance and News in Comparative Perspective

321 Pages·2020·4.031 MB·English

by  Claudia Mellado

Beyond Journalistic Norms
Beyond Journalistic Norms contests and challenges pre-established
assumptions about a dominant type of journalism prevailing in different
political, economic, and geographical contexts to posit the fluid, and
dynamic nature of journalistic roles.
The book brings together scholars from Western and Eastern Europe,
North America, Latin America, and Asia, reporting findings based on data
collected from democratic, transitional, and non-democratic contexts to
produce thematic chapters that address how journalistic cultures vary
around the globe, specifically in relation to challenges that journalists
face in performing their journalistic roles. The study measures, compares,
and analyzes the materialization of the interventionist, the watchdog, the
loyal-facilitator, the service, the infotainment, and the civic roles in more
than 30,000 print news stories from 18 countries. It also draws from
hundreds of surveys with journalists to explain the link between ideals
and practices, and the conditions that shape this divide.
This book will be of great relevance to scholars and researchers
working in the fields of journalism, journalism practices, philosophy of
journalism, sociology of media, and comparative journalism research.
Claudia Mellado is Professor of Journalism in the School of Journalism
at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile. Her
research focuses on the study of journalism cultures, journalistic role
performance, and comparative studies. She is the principal investigator of
the JRP Project (www.journalisticperformance.org). Her work has been
extensively published in journals such as Journal of Communication,
International Journal of Press/Politics, Journalism, JMCQ, Journalism
Studies, Journalism Practice, and Communication Theory. Her last edited
book is Journalistic Role Performance: Concept, Contexts, and Methods
(Routledge, 2017).
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Global Experiences
Edited by Eric Freedman, Robyn S. Goodman, and Elanie Steyn
Economic News
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Arjen van Dalen, Helle Svensson, Anotinus Kalogeropoulos,
Erik Albæk, Claes H. de Vreese
Reporting Humanitarian Disasters in a Social Media Age
Glenda Cooper
The Rise of Nonprofit Investigative Journalism in the United States
Bill Birnbauer
Tech Giants, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Journalism
Jason Whittaker
Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age
Andrea Carson
Understanding Citizen Journalism as Civic Participation
Seungahn Nah and Deborah S. Chung
Newsroom-Classroom Hybrids at Universities
Student Labor and the Journalism Crisis
Gunhild Ring Olsen
Beyond Journalistic Norms
Role Performance and News in Comparative Perspective
Edited by Claudia Mellado
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com
Beyond Journalistic Norms
Role Performance and News
in Comparative Perspective
Edited by Claudia Mellado
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Claudia Mellado to be identified as the author of
the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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the publishers.
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trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-38849-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-42550-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
List of Contributors xi
Foreword xv
Acknowledgments xviii
PART I
Professional Roles and Journalistic Performance 1
1 Journalistic Role Performance and the News 3
CLAUDIA MELLADO
2 Theorizing Journalistic Roles 22
CLAUDIA MELLADO
3 Assessing Journalistic Role Performance Cross-Nationally:
Comparative Design and Methodology 46
CLAUDIA MELLADO, JACQUES MICK, AND MIREYA
MÁRQUEZ-RAMÍREZ
PART II
The Manifestation of Journalistic Role Performance
in the News 65
4 Mapping Professional Roles in News Content
Across 18 Countries: A Descriptive Overview 67
CLAUDIA MELLADO, MIREYA MÁRQUEZ-RAMÍREZ, MARÍA
LUISA HUMANES, ADRIANA AMADO, CORNELIA MOTHES,
HENRY SILKE, AGNIESZKA STĘPIŃSKA, GABRIELLA SZABÓ,
SERGEY DAVYDOV, JACQUES MICK, DASNIEL OLIVERA, NIKOS S.
PANAGIOTOU, SVETLANA PASTI, PATRIC RAEMY, SERGIO ROSES,
ANNA-MARIA SCHIELICKE, AND EDSON TANDOC JR.
vi Contents
5 Journalistic Voice: The Performance of the
Interventionist Role 85
AGNIESZKA STĘPIŃSKA, GABRIELLA SZABÓ, ADRIANA AMADO,
AND HENRY SILKE
6 Power Relations: The Performance of the
Watchdog and Loyal-Facilitator Roles 103
MIREYA MÁRQUEZ-RAMÍREZ, SERGIO ROSES, HENRY SILKE,
AND DASNIEL OLIVERA
7 Audience Approach: The Performance of the Civic,
Infotainment, and Service Roles 125
MARÍA LUISA HUMANES AND SERGIO ROSES
PART III
Explaining Journalistic Role Performance 145
8 Measuring the Link Between Professional Role
Conceptions, Perceived Role Enactment, and Journalistic
Role Performance Across Countries 147
CLAUDIA MELLADO AND CORNELIA MOTHES
9 Journalistic Role Performance: A News-Story-Level
Approach 167
EDSON TANDOC JR., PATRIC RAEMY, SVETLANA PASTI, AND
NIKOS PANAGIOTOU
10 Journalistic Role Performance: An Organizational-Level
Approach 186
CORNELIA MOTHES, ANNA-MARIA SCHIELICKE,
AND PATRIC RAEMY
11 Journalistic Role Performance: A Societal-Level
Approach 205
AGNIESZKA STĘPIŃSKA, GABRIELLA SZABÓ, MIREYA
MÁRQUEZ-RAMÍREZ, SVETLANA PASTI, AND NIKOS
PANAGIOTOU
Contents vii
12 Beyond Journalistic Norms: Empirical Lessons on Role
Performance in the News 225
CLAUDIA MELLADO, MIREYA MÁRQUEZ-RAMÍREZ, MARÍA
LUISA HUMANES, CORNELIA MOTHES, ADRIANA AMADO,
SERGEY DAVYDOV, JACQUES MICK, DASNIEL OLIVERA, NIKOS
S. PANAGIOTOU, SVETLANA PASTI, PATRIC RAEMY, SERGIO
ROSES, ANNA-MARIA SCHIELICKE, HENRY SILKE, AGNIESZKA
STĘPIŃSKA, GABRIELLA SZABÓ, AND EDSON TANDOC JR.
Appendices 245
Index 289
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Domains, dimensions, and indicators of journalistic roles 38
2.2 Dimensions and sub-dimensions of journalistic roles 39
4.1 Journalistic voice: Interventionist role 72
4.2 Power relations: Watchdog and loyal-facilitator roles 74
4.3 Audience approach: Civic, infotainment, and
service roles 75
5.1 Content- and style-related indicators of the
interventionist role (means) 90
5.2 Presence of content-related indicators of the
interventionist role (percentage) 92
5.3 Presence of style-related indicators of the interventionist
role (percentage) 92
5.4 Indicators of the interventionist role in briefs and articles
(combined) across countries 96
6.1 The interventionist and detached orientations of the
watchdog role across countries (mean) 111
6.2 The interventionist and detached variations of the
watchdog role across news topics (mean) 112
6.3 The elite-supporting and nation-supporting orientations
of the loyal-facilitator role across countries (means) 116
6.4 The elite-supporting and nation-supporting orientations
of the loyal-facilitator role across news topics (means) 117
7.1 The advocate and educational sub-dimensions of the
civic role across countries (means) 133
7.2 The advocate and educational sub-dimension of the civic
role across news topics (means) 134
7.3 Elements of infotainment role performance across news
topics (mean and percentage) 136
7.4 Elements of service role performance across news topics
(mean and percentage) 139
Illustrations ix
8.1 Average conception-performance, perception-
performance, and conception-perception gaps for six
journalistic roles across countries 155
8.2 Country differences in conception-performance gap,
perception-performance gap, and conception-perception
gap for the interventionist role 156
8.3 Country differences in conception-performance gap,
perception-performance gap, and conception-perception
gap for the watchdog role 156
8.4 Country differences in conception-performance gap,
perception-performance gap, and conception-perception
gap for the loyal-facilitator role 157
8.5 Country differences in conception-performance gap,
perception-performance gap, and conception-perception
gap for the civic role 157
8.6 Country differences in conception-performance gap,
perception-performance gap, and conception-perception
gap for the infotainment role 158
8.7 Country differences in conception-performance gap,
perception-performance gap, and conception-perception
gap for the service role 158
Tables
3.1 Sample Distribution by Country, Newspaper, Audience
Orientation, and Total Number of Items 48
3.2 Survey Items and Coding Indicators for Measuring Role
Conception, Perceived Role Enactment, and
Role Performance 53
4.1 The Performance of the Interventionist, Watchdog,
Loyal-Facilitator, Civic, Infotainment, and Service Roles
in the News Across Countries 71
4.2 Correlations Between the Interventionist Role and Other
Journalistic Roles by Country 76
5.1 Presence of Indicators of the Interventionist Role by
Regime Type (Percentage) 93
5.2 Presence of Indicators of the Interventionist Role in the
Popular and Elite Press (Percentage) 94
5.3 Presence of Style-Related Indicators of the Interventionist
Role in the Popular and Elite Press Across Countries
(Percentage) 95
5.4 Presence of the Indicators of the Interventionist
Role in the News (Percentage, Means, and Standard
Deviations) 97