"The top six roles, all with means above 4.5 and standard deviations below 1, for Botswana journalists, were a mix of those aligned with a liberal press (e.g., report things as they are) and those relevant to development journalism (e.g., support national development). “Report things as they are
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(mean=4.80) and “Educate the audience” (mean=4.70) were the top two roles for these journalists (see Table 1) with 96.2 percent and 94.1 percent of the journalists respectively saying that they considered these roles “extremely” or “very” important. The least important roles, both with means below the midpoint of three, were “Be an adversary of government” (mean=2.62) and “Convey a positive image of political leadership” (mean=2.40); these journalists did not want to take a seriously adversarial stance with government but neither did they want to convey a positive image of political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"Four “classic” roles: to report things as they are, to be a detached observer, to educate the audience and provide news that attracts the largest audience are fairly unanimously seen as the most important among Estonian journalists, as the relatively low standard deviations suggest. Especially
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‘educating audience’ is historically rooted role in Estonian journalism. Estonian journalists clearly distance themselves from the political power: very few of them would support government policy or are ready to convey a positive image of political leadership. At the same time only a minority of Estonian journalists perceive themselves as adversaries of the government.
Estonian journalists seem not to have any consensus concerning the roles that in one or another way guide people: provide information people need to make political decisions, motivate people to participate in political activity, support national development and set the political agenda. They also have different views on providing entertainment and relaxation and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders. Generally, Estonian journalists tend to perceive their role as a critical but neutral observer who tries to serve as many people as possible, accepting also the right of people to express their views. Traditionally they see themselves as educators of the public. They have different views on the activist type of roles." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"The differences between the most and least important roles according to Czech journalists are very big. While almost 100 percent of journalists viewed their role to “report things as they are” as very or even the most important, only 1.4 percent of interviewed journalists perceived “support o
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f government policy” to be very important. The second most important perceived journalistic role to “be a detached observer” falls in accordance with the liberal Western tradition of journalism implemented in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution as the normative ideal. Still, there was quite a strong tendency to educate the audience among the sampled Czech journalists. On the other hand, journalists did not consider it important to be an adversary of the government or to motivate others to participate in political activity. In general, we can say that Czech journalists convey a normative view of media as a place where non-distorted events are presented and information necessary for political decisions as well as for everyday life management can be exchanged." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regard to professional role orientations, Ecuadorian journalists found it most important to provide analysis of current affairs, to report things as they are, to let people express their views, to educate the audience, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, and to support national develo
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pment (see Table 1). These results point to a hybridization of “classic” and “neutral” standard roles from Western journalism and other types of journalism more “engaged” with and “didactic” towards the citizen and government. Likewise, journalists attribute little importance to being a detached observer, to supporting government policy, to providing entertainment and relaxation, to conveying a positive image of political leadership, and to being an adversary of the government. However, there was not a particularly strong consensus among the respondents, as the high standard deviations indicate. These results highlight that although we could speak of a passive role of journalists in Ecuador, the civic role exercised by them and the neglect of roles associated with market orientation and power distance are clearly present." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, journalists in Qatar found it most important to influence public opinion, to advocate for social change, to support national development, to report things as they naturally are, to be a detached observer and to support government policy. About half of
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journalists in Qatar found it important to promote a positive image of political leadership, to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, and to provide entertainment and relaxation. On the other hand, the following traits were only supported by a minority of respondents: monitor and scrutinize political leaders, monitor and scrutinize business, and acting as adversary of the government." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"In their professional role orientations, Sierra Leonean journalists found it most important to educate the audience, let people express their views, report things as they are, support national development and advocate for social change. The respondents believe it is not their job to convey a positi
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ve image of political leadership, support government policy, and neither do they want to be an adversary of the government as shown in Table 1. Even though the journalists do not believe so much that they should be responsible to set the political agenda, they supported the role of providing the information people need to make political decisions. For many of the journalists in Sierra Leone it is important to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, provide orientation for daily life, tell stories of the world, provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience and monitor and scrutinize political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Chinese journalists found it most important to report things as they are, to provide analysis of current affairs, to support national development, to provide advice, orientation and direction for daily life, and to be a detached observer. The relevanc
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e of these “classic” roles such as “to report things as they are” and “to provide analysis of current affairs” was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalists as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. Likewise, there was a strong consensus among the respondents over the importance of supporting national development. Still, a majority of journalists in China found it important to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, to let people express their views, to influence public opinion, and to support government policy. The most disputative role is to be an adversary of the government (s=1.32), which is also the least supportive role. Another highly disputative role is to convey a positive image of political leadership (s=1.16). Except for the roles of supporting national development and supporting government policy, other politically more assertive roles were not widely supported, such as setting the political agenda, motivating people to participate in political activity, and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Ethiopian journalists found it most important to support national development, promote tolerance and cultural diversity, provide analysis of current affairs, and educate the audience. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interv
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iewed journalists as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. The least valued role among the interviewed journalists was to be an adversary of the government (20.2% saying “extremely” or “very important”). On the same note, around half of the respondents found it important to support government policy and convey a positive image of the political leadership. However, these and similar roles triggered relatively high standard deviations, indicating that the journalist population is split on politically inclined roles orientations." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Journalists in Serbia seriously believe in their role to inform, interpret, educate and advocate for social change. Nearly all of them, with very little divergence, say the main role of journalism is to report things as they are, followed by providing analysis, promoting tolerance and diversity, ed
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ucating the audience, letting people express their views, advocating for social change, influencing public opinion, supporting national development and telling stories about the world. Around two thirds point to aspects of the watchdog-role as important in their work: monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders and businesses and providing information people need to make political decisions, as well as being a detached observer. Slightly more than half of the interviewed journalists believe it is their job to provide advice for daily life, and there is a relative agreement among them about this. Less popular journalistic roles of setting the political agenda and motivating people to take part in political activity enjoy support of 43.1 and 37.5 percent respectively, with a higher divergence of opinions. Similarly, the disagreement is relatively high over prioritizing entertainment and relaxation, or being an adversary of the government, each upheld by one third of respondents. Supporting government’s policy and conveying a positive image of political leadership are the two least popular journalistic roles (8.9 and 12.6 percent respectively), and journalists tend to agree about this." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"Romanian journalists said that objectivity is the most important attribute of their work. They strongly believe that their job is to report events exactly the way they happened, without any external or internal intervention. The low standard deviations in these cases indicate that there is a high l
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evel of agreement (at least declarative agreement) on the most important roles of the Romanian journalists. In addition, Romanian journalists think they have a duty to serve their public. As shown in Table 1, they believe their role is to educate the audience and provide an analysis of the current problems. However, the standard deviation shows that there is not a high level of agreement on the main roles of the journalists. For the majority of the Romanian journalists it is essential to assume a social role in the community. They consider it important to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to let people express their views, to support national development and to advocate for social change. The percentage of those who assume the role of watch dogs for the politicians is smaller; only half of the Romanian journalists questioned in this particular study believe it is important to monitor and scrutinize political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Sudanese journalists found it most important to support national development, to be a detached observer, to advocate for social change, and to influence public opinion. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalis
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ts as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. At the same time, respondents turned out to be less keen on acting as an adversary of the government, supporting government policy, and conveying a positive image of political leadership. However, standard deviations point to a great deal of disagreement among journalists with regards to these aspects of journalistic roles. Still, a majority of journalists in Sudan found it important to let people express their views, to report things as they are, to provide analysis of current affairs, to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, to provide advice, orientation and direction for daily life, to provide information people need to make political decisions, and to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Overall, Sudanese journalists’ look fairly similar to their counterparts in other parts of the world, while at the same time, they also subscribe to some of the basic elements of development journalism." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"Respondents believed that their primary role was to monitor and scrutinize political leaders, followed closely by reporting facts as they are. Yet only half found either of these to be ‘extremely’ or ‘very important’. They were also keen that everyday people should be allowed to express the
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ir views through the national media, and that the media should broaden the readers’ horizons. To promote tolerance and cultural diversity was an important journalistic role as well, concomitant with Singapore’s conscious and consistent effort to foster harmony among the diverse races and religions that constitute the population. At the bottom end of the table, respondents did not see that providing advice for daily life, entertainment and relaxation was a significant journalistic role. These are, perhaps, values more associated with lifestyle magazines, and this may reflect a division of labor in the minds of the newsworkers." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"Hong Kong journalists treated as most important the roles of monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders, reporting things as they are, monitoring and scrutinizing businesses, providing analysis of current affairs, and letting people express their views. Given the emphasis on monitoring the power
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holders, “to be a detached observer” was treated as important only by slightly more than half of the respondents. Twelve of the 18 roles included in the questionnaire were treated as important by fewer than half of the respondents. About one-third saw the advocacy role of the press as important, and about three in ten saw setting the political agenda and motivating people to participate in politics as important. The Hong Kong journalists were least likely to see conveying a positive image of political leadership, supporting government policy, providing entertainment and relaxation, and supporting national development as important roles. However, the percentage of journalists seeing the press as an adversary of the government is also low (14.4%). It indicates that the Hong Kong journalists saw themselves as an independent watchdog without being an adversary to the power holders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Argentinian journalists found it most important to report things as they were, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to provide analysis of current affairs, and to let people express their views (see Table 1). A majority of journalists in Argen
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tina found it important to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Considering the political polarization context as it was seen in Argentina during the years when the survey was conducted, options of conveying a positive image of political leadership or being an adversary of the government were surprisingly supported by only a minority of respondents. They showed some consensus towards more politically assertive roles such as supporting government policy or setting political agenda, both roles related to partisan journalism. Regarding this popular model, half of the respondents considered important, in increasing order, setting the political agenda, motivating people to participate in political activity, influencing public opinion, supporting national development, providing information people need to make political decisions and advocating for social change." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Journalists in Malaysia view educating the audience, reports things as they are, promote tolerance, tell stories about the world, and cultural diversity and be a detached observer as their main roles (see Table 1). On the other hand, they did not indicate highly as their roles such as setting of po
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litical agenda, conveying a positive image of political leadership and motivate people to participate in political activity. In between those two “group” of roles, they would provide analysis of current affairs, provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience. They also support national development and provide information people need to make political decisions." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"While answering questions about their professional roles, journalists in Bangladesh preferred being assertive with social issues. An overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi journalists work to promote tolerance and cultural diversity (87.0%). They also put importance on advocacy for social change
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(79.6%), followed by letting people express their views (78.8%), providing analysis of current affairs (78.4%) and reporting things as they are (76.8%). They also prioritize political assertiveness by assigning importance and extreme importance to supporting national development (76.3%) and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders (63.2%). Journalists, however, show the least interest in supporting government policies (28.7%). They ranked roles like being an adversary of the government (28.9%) or conveying a positive image of political leadership (37.3%) the lowest. The journalists in general aim to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience (75.9%)." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Der junge Deutsch-Araber Jaafar Abdul Karim ist ein Star im arabischen Programm der Deutschen Welle. Simone Schlindwein, Afrika-Korrespondentin der taz, sprach mit ihm über Journalismus in Zeiten der Radikalisierung im In- und Ausland." (Seite 30)
"Cet ouvrage explore les systèmes médiatiques d’Afrique subsaharienne francophone et propose des clés pour aborder leurs spécificités via nombre d’éléments historiques, politiques, sociologiques, juridiques, économiques et technologiques, indispensables pour les replacer dans leur contex
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te. Présentant la littérature de référence, enrichie par les témoignages de dizaines de journalistes africains, et puisant dans l’expérience de plusieurs ONG spécialisées, ce manuel constitue une introduction générale à des environnements médiatiques méconnus et dont les dynamiques internes sont peu explorées. Pourtant, le caractère relativement récent de la liberté de la presse, la nature semi-autoritaire ou l’instabilité chronique de plusieurs des régimes politiques de la région, la prépondérance de l’économie informelle, ainsi que les dynamiques d’appropriation et de participation des citoyens contribuent à façonner des systèmes médiatiques et des modèles professionnels particuliers qui peuvent stimuler la réflexion." (Verso)
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"The top five roles, in order of importance both by mean scores and by percent who said “extremely” and “very” important, for Indian journalists, were: report things as they are (88.4%), educate the audience (85.5%), provide analysis of current affairs (84.7%), let people express their views
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(83.2%), and support national development (81.7%) (see Table 1). Interestingly, the last role in mean importance was “convey a positive image of the leadership.” “Be an adversary of the government” and “set the political agenda” tied for second last place in terms of means, followed by “support government policy.” These Indian journalists considered it only somewhat important to be directly oppositional to the government as well as to portray leaders positively. As the means decreased, in general, standard deviations increased. Thus journalists’ opinions were quite varied on the roles that were not of primary importance to them." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"Albanian journalists believe their most important professional role is reporting things as they are, being detached observers and providing the kind of news that attracts the largest audience. These functions contrast with the dominant perceived role of journalists in the early 1990s as missionarie
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s and educators of the audience (see Table 1). Journalists in Albania tend to be audience-oriented, report uninvolved according to the audience’s taste and demand and attempt to educate them remotely through entertainment and recreation. Journalists’ other attributes as “advocates for social change”, “educators of the audience” and “promoters of tolerance and cultural diversity” find broad support as well. As for critical journalism, only a few journalists think it is important to set the political agenda, to monitor and scrutinize business and political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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