This study examines the two dominant U.S. journalism models—the watchdog and civic-oriented professional performance—in the aftermath of the economic crises. The study, based on a content analysis of 1,421 news stories published by five... more
This study examines the two dominant U.S. journalism models—the watchdog and civic-oriented professional performance—in the aftermath 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
Through a crosslongitudinal news content analysis (N = 2.431) of social affairs coverage by the national press in Chile between 1990 and 2010, this article characterizes the use of sources and actors, as well as the presence of the... more
Through a crosslongitudinal news content analysis (N = 2.431) of social affairs coverage by the national press in Chile between 1990 and 2010, this article characterizes the use of sources and actors, as well as the presence of the “infotainment” and “civic” journalistic models. The results show significant differences in the use of actors and sources, as well as an important evolution in the presence of both the “civic” and the “infotainment” models of journalism in social affairs news coverage.
Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly con- sidered in comparative research on... more
Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly con- sidered in comparative research on journalists’ work environments, an omission that may obscure important realities of contemporary journalism. We address this gap through analysis of journalist surveys in 62 countries. We confirm the existence of insecure democracies as an empirical phenomenon and begin to unravel their meaning for journalists. We find democracies with uneven democratic performance tend to have more journalist assassinations, which is the most extreme form of influence on work, and that levels of democratic performance, violence, public insecurity and economic inequality significantly shape how journalists perceive various influences in their work environment. Case studies of insecure democracies in Africa and Latin America address why these conditions sometimes (but not always) lead to journalist assassinations and other anti-press violence. They suggest anti-press violence is higher when sub-national state actors inten- sify criminal violence and when insecurity is geographically and topically proximate to journalists. How journalists’ perceive influences on work are therefore more complex and multidimensional than previous research has suggested. The study concludes by identifying areas for improvement in data collection
Para citar este artículo / to reference this article / para citar este artigo Mellado Ruiz, C., López-Rabadán, P. y Elortegui, C. ¿(Para) ciudadanos o espectadores? Periodismo político chileno y sus modelos profesionales de aproximación a... more
Para citar este artículo / to reference this article / para citar este artigo Mellado Ruiz, C., López-Rabadán, P. y Elortegui, C. ¿(Para) ciudadanos o espectadores? Periodismo político chileno y sus modelos profesionales de aproximación a la audiencia. Resumen Este artículo analiza la forma en que el periodismo político chileno aborda a su audiencia a través de distintos estilos de reporteo, así como su evolu-ción en las últimas décadas. La digitalización de la industria de medios, in-cluida la prensa tradicional, ha generado importantes transformaciones en su organización profesional, así como en la forma como el periodismo se dirige a los distintos públicos a través del producto informativo. A partir de un estudio longitudinal de la cobertura política de la prensa chilena, que abarca las dos primeras décadas de reinstauración democrática en el país (1990-2010), se profundiza en el tipo de público al que se dirige la performance periodística, diferenciando entre dos modelos de audiencia: el ciudadano como sujeto político activo y el espectador de infoentrete
Although the democratic role of journalism in new democracies is heavily debated, systematic empirical analysis is scarce. This paper studies how the performance of the watchdog and civic journalism role in Chilean newspapers develop... more
Although the democratic role of journalism in new democracies is heavily debated, systematic empirical analysis is scarce. This paper studies how the performance of the watchdog and civic journalism role in Chilean newspapers develop during democratic transition and looks at explanations for these developments. We challenge the homogenization thesis, which has often characterized thinking about the role of the media in democratic transition, assuming an automatic unidirectional trend toward more critical professionalism, where reporters increasingly act as watchdogs by taking the side of ordinary citizens against political and economic elite. We argue that a rise in critical professionalism is often limited to a brief honeymoon period after the return to democracy. We furthermore argue that to understand changing role performance during democratic transition, one needs to look at specific developments of the media (press freedom, journalism education, advertisement income, and circulation) and development in the political context, in particular the degree of political conflict. These hypotheses are tested with a unique data set consisting of a content analysis of 20,201 news articles, which make up representative yearly samples of newspaper coverage in Chile between 1990 and 2011. We find no trend toward more watchdog and civic journalism, and limited influences of developments of the media. At least for the performance of these two journalistic roles in Chile, changes in journalism during democratic transition can best be explained by the honeymoon hypothesis and the degree of political conflict. The generalizability of these findings to other transitional democracies is discussed.
Print journalism has long been seen as a key institution of democratic politics, serving to enhance transparency, provide a forum for debate, and facilitate public participation. Instead, television journalism, particularly in its... more
Print journalism has long been seen as a key institution of democratic politics, serving to enhance transparency, provide a forum for debate, and facilitate public participation. Instead, television journalism, particularly in its commercial form, has often been seen more negatively, as a form of infotainment that contributes little to the functions of journalism as an institution of democratic citizenship. Some scholars have questioned the dichotomy between infotainment and democratic roles, however, and the existing research comparing journalistic roles in print and television has produced mixed results. Focusing on the case of Chile and making use of a standardized news content-based index of journalistic roles, this study compares the prevalence of three professional roles by medium—newspapers and television— and also by audience orientation—popular and elite media across both print and television news. Our results show that commercial television in Chile is higher than print media in the performance of the watchdog and civic roles, and the infotainment role is positively, not negatively, correlated with these. We discuss the implication of these findings in light of the literature on infotainment and citizenship, as well as the emerging body of research on 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... more
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 non-democratic 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. The legacy of Hallin and Mancini's (2004) seminal typology of media systems in advanced democracies has prompted a rich and fruitful line of research on how
Cross-national comparative studies of journalists generally focus on the demographic characteristics and/or the values and role-perception of journalists. Systematic studies of journalistic skills have been rare, however. This article... more
Cross-national comparative studies of journalists generally focus on the demographic characteristics and/or the values and role-perception of journalists. Systematic studies of journalistic skills have been rare, however. This article reports the findings from a comparative study of journalists from Britain, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. Based on an email survey of 2238 news professionals, journalistic skills can be grouped into three distinctive dimensions: reporting, editing, and networking skills. The data also show a number of similarities, but also important differences regarding the importance journalists give to different professional skills in different European countries.
Most comparative research on journalistic objectivity, and particularly the relation between objectivity and professional roles, has been carried out in the context of Western media systems and from the perspective of journalists' role... more
Most comparative research on journalistic objectivity, and particularly the relation between objectivity and professional roles, has been carried out in the context of Western media systems and from the perspective of journalists' role conceptions. However, the relation between role performance and the implementation of the objectivity norm remains unsolved, especially in countries with no clear-cut journalistic tradition of objectivity. Based on a content analysis of news stories published in Chile, Mexico, and Spain (N ¼ 7,868), this study examines (1) the use of four objective reporting methods in newspapers from Spain, Mexico, and Chile, and (2) the influence of the performance of six journalistic roles in those methods. The results show that the materialization of objectivity varies across journalistic cultures, revealing also a significant influence of the performance of professional roles on the implementation of objectivity in news. The study sheds some light on the implication of these results in countries expected to display similar traits due to their historical and cultural affinities but which show very distinctive patterns.
Previous research has largely explored the differences and similarities between print and digital media in terms of news cycles and specific content characteristics. However, fewer studies have addressed the extent to which the media... more
Previous research has largely explored the differences and similarities between print and digital media in terms of news cycles and specific content characteristics. However, fewer studies have addressed the extent to which the media platform accounts for differences in the performance of key journalistic roles. Based on a content analysis of 1519 stories from Chilean print and online news outlets, this study found that, while media affordances did have an influence on the way journalists performed their work, thematic beat and media audience orientation were more crucial to explaining differences in the presence of different roles across print and digital media. The findings support a position that is midway between the generalist and particularistic approaches regarding
This article goes in depth into the key mechanisms that enable a digital interaction between journalists and expert sources in political journalism, developing a scale that articulates these interaction mechanisms on Twitter. On the basis... more
This article goes in depth into the key mechanisms that enable a digital interaction between journalists and expert sources in political journalism, developing a scale that articulates these interaction mechanisms on Twitter. On the basis of this analytical proposal, this study tries to reflect the potential professional consequences which are generated by this social network throughout the journalistic work as well as some changes in important professional skills, such as data verification and contact with expert sources. Those are key aspects to determine the opportunities of the journalists in the future of the profession. It also tries to analyse the relationship between journalists and politicians into a digital context by assessing the impact of using different new media tools on the journalistic culture and political discussion.
