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). Routledge Research in Journalism Critical Perspectives on Journalistic Beliefs and Actions Global Experiences Edited by Eric Freedman, Robyn S. Goodman, and Elanie Steyn Economic News Informing the Inattentive Audience 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 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN 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, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be 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