Journalists and Editors: Political Proximity as Determinant of Career and Autonomy

Abstract

Political economy suggests that media owners try to influence the process of media production by providing career incentives to like-minded journalists and adjusting the level of professional autonomy granted to them. Accordingly, we analyze whether the political distance between editors and journalists (i.e., reporters) affects the careers of journalists in terms of rank and salary, as well as their perceived professional autonomy. We hypothesize that editors reward and allow freedom to journalists whose political viewpoints coincide more precisely with their own. Political proximity to editors should lead to a better salary and rank for reporters and to a stronger perception of editorial autonomy among reporters. We tested our hypotheses through statistical analysis using data from the Worlds of Journalism Study. We analyzed the answers of 3,087 journalists interviewed between 2012 and 2016 in six European countries: Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The results support our hypotheses. The analysis reveals a polarization of media outlet editors, and robust results were achieved via a measure of political proximity that takes into account the particular influence of left-leaning and right-leaning editors. Such partisan leaning, however, seems less relevant in countries belonging to Hallin and Mancini’s Atlantic model.

Fact-checking, reputation, and political falsehoods in Italy and the United States

“…Italy is a parliamentary multiparty democracy that predominantly adopted proportional electoral systems and experienced coalition governments, while the United States is a presidential democracy with two parties competing in a majoritarian electoral system. In terms of media systems, Italy and the United States are different too (although in both countries there is an ongoing debate about potential media bias; Ceron et al, 2019). The United States belongs to the North Atlantic or Liberal model (market-driven, with a strong professionalization, and a neutral-commercial press), while Italy belongs to the Mediterranean or Polarized Pluralist model, based on a strong political parallelism and weaker professionalization of journalists (Hallin and Mancini, 2004).…”

Editorial

“…Comprising 27,500 carefully validated responses from journalists in all continents, the WJS dataset is an incredibly rich resource to understand journalism and its social and political implications. WJS data, which are now available to researchers via the project’s website, have already been the focus of various articles published in The International Journal of Press/Politics , shedding light on journalists’ perceptions of influences on their work in eighteen countries (Hanitzsch & Mellado, 2011), threats to journalists in Mexico (Hughes & Márquez-Ramírez, 2018), and the impact of political allegiances on journalists’ careers in six European democracies (Ceron et al, 2019). The book delves deeply into the WJS dataset to illuminate journalists’ social profile and employment patterns, perceptions of influences on their work and editorial freedom, understanding of their role in society, ethical considerations, trust in public institutions, and reactions to the changes and disruptions to news work that have occurred in the past decade.…”