Professional roles and news construction: a media sociology conceptualization of journalists’ role conception and performance

Abstract

Journalists' professional roles entail an important research area, which enhances knowledge on journalism's attempted impact on political and democratic life. Journalism scholars, however, tend not to study journalistic professional roles from its impact on news content but focus on journalists' conception of their role concluding that the way journalists conceive of their role will eventually shape the stories they produce. Hence, the link between role conception and role performance (i.e., its impact on news) has caught more attention as a justification of research interest than as loci of empirical examination. This conceptual paper revisits this assumption, arguing for an indepth discussion of what the concept of professional role entails to understand its manifestation in news. As journalistic performance must be considered a collective outcome, this article addresses the concept of professional role from its relationship to structural characteristics of media work. Our approach suggests a media sociology conceptualization of professional roles that takes into consideration the gatekeeping context, and most importantly the organizational and societal levels, when analyzing professional roles of journalists.

Alternative facts and fake news entering journalistic content production cycle

“…The scholarly discussion about the journalistic profession is emerging on the grounds of who journalists are and what do they do (Hanitzsch et al 2011;Hellmueller & Mellado 2015;Willnat et al 2013). According to the perspective of systems theory, journalism as a system provides society with fact-based, relevant and current information (Görke & Scholl 2007, pp.…”

The battle within : a mixed methods exploration into political journalism and role strain

“…The process in which journalists adopt particular roles is referred to as "role internalization" (Hanitzsch & Vos, 2017). Journalists may relate to any of the above roles simultaneously or depending on the situation -meaning context is important in understanding when certain roles are privileged over others (Hellmueller & Mellado, 2015). Journalists' socialization into the journalistic institution and news organizations guide the way they internalize particular roles.…”

“…Role enactment. Regardless of the cognitive role held by a journalist, role conceptions are not always accurate predictors of role performance (Hellmueller & Mellado, 2015). Several scholars have noted discrepancies between the roles journalists say they want to fulfill and the role that manifests through their work (Carpenter et al, 2016;Siegelbaum & Thomas, 2016;.…”

“…Although role performance and "journalistic decisions should be conceptually linked to journalistic role conceptions and normative ideals" (Eide, 2017, p. 90), linearity does not always exist between role orientations and role performance , and several factors influence the news production process (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996;. Empirical evaluations of role performance, then, can gain explanatory power by conceptually linking role conceptions, practiced roles, and gatekeeping influences (Hellmueller & Mellado, 2015).…”

“…Occasionally, these factors negate the journalist's role conceptions and instead lead to work that may reflect very different roles in practice (Hellmueller & Mellado, 2015;. Within the cyclical nature of role construction and reconfiguration, journalists reflect on their practiced roles to reconceive and adjust their cognitive roles, thus perpetuating the cycle (Hanitzsch & Vos, 2017).…”