Comparative Media Systems: European and Global Perspectives

The Global Journalist: Are Professional Structures Being Flattened?

The Global Journalist: Are Professional Structures Being Flattened?* Wolfgang Donsbach Introduction A fundamental research question in the social sciences is whether human behavior is unique in every new instant or instead follows universal laws, meaning that it repeats itself and can thus be predicted. This is true of both psychology and communications, for both the social behavior of people in situations of emotional stress and journalists who have to choose what is to become news: We want to know which aspects of social facts we observe can be grasped by fundamental laws. Besides the replication of observations, comparisons are the key for gaining such insights. One could even say that a scientist’s empirical work is at its core composed of comparisons. Every test on causality is aimed at finding differences between groups of people and tracing them back causally to the existence or occurrence of the respective characteristics of the observed groups. Of particular importance are international comparisons, because they allow for the universe of cultural, historical, economic, or political characteristics of a country or territory to be understood as independent variables. As international integration and thereby the mutual influence of media landscapes has increased in the wake of globalization, the question has been raised as to which developments in the media and in journalism are of a global nature and which are culturally specific. Will there soon be a model of a “global journalist” who—wherever he or she is working—is choosing and editing news according to basically the same criteria? Or will factors that have been responsible for regional diversity maintain their influence on journalists’ working habits? This paper first provides the reader with an account of the meaning and the origins of international comparative journalism research. Subsequently, the theoretical ques- *This paper is a revised and amended version of Donsbach (2005). I want to thank Antal Wozniak for his help in editing this paper. tion of how independent variables can be identified and allocated in theories of news selection is raised. On this basis hypotheses on future developments towards convergence or divergence are discussed. 1. Origins of International Comparative Journalism Research The workings of the McLeod group at the University of Wisconsin can be regarded as the beginning of international comparative journalism research. McLeod and Hawley’s (1964) study on the “professional orientation ” of American journalists, in which they wanted to provide evidence for the similarity of journalism with classic professions on the basis of role perception and professional motives, was initially not comparatively designed. However, their questionnaire and the so-called McLeod scale, consisting of around 20 statements, were utilized in a number of countries . Thus at the end of the 1980s, comparative findings about the level of professionalization of journalism in international comparison were at hand (for an overview, see Donsbach 1981, Donsbach 1982). In essence, these findings led to the conclusion that the potential of professionalization for journalists in free countries is only small-scale. The unregulated, open path to becoming a journalist (as opposed to a doctor or lawyer) as well as the impossibility of taking responsibility for the consequences of job-related behavior are pitted against this. Another root of international comparative journalism research is the German–British Journalist Enquiry of 1980–81. This enquiry had a comparative design from the outset and was aimed at generating insights about role perceptions, professional motives, professional ethics, and criteria of news selection in both countries, in which 400 journalists, respectively, were personally interviewed. Subsequent studies were conducted in Latin America, Australia, Taiwan, and elsewhere. Weaver and Wilhoit (see below) have also used some of the questions for the American Journalist Enquiry. In this study a news selection scenario was simulated , a design that was later employed in many other studies. Among other things, the German–British Journalist Enquiry found considerable differences in role perception (which had an effect on news selection) and inquiry behavior. Renate Köcher (1986) applied the terms “watchdog” and “missionary” to illustrate these different professional models. A third source of comparative research—also initially not comparatively designed—is the study by Johnstone, Slawski, and Bowman (1976), which was later resumed by Weaver and Wilhoit (1986) under the title The American Journalist and whose questionnaire was subsequently 154 Comparative Media Systems used in a number of other countries (Weaver 1998). Besides questions about professional structure, the study also focused on role perception, professional motives, and professional ethics...