Comparing Journalistic Role Performance Across Thematic Beats: A 37-Country Study

Claudia Mellado; Mireya Márquez-Ramírez; Sarah Van Leuven; Daniel Jackson; Cornelia Mothes; Carlos Arcila-Calderón; Jérome Berthaut; Nicole Blanchett; Sandrine Boudana; Katherine Y.N. Chen; Sergey Davydov; Mariana De Maio; Nagwa Fahmy; Martina Ferrero; Miguel Garcés; Lutz Hagen; Daniel C. Hallin; María Luisa Humanes; Marju Himma-Kadakas; Guido Keel; Claudia Kozman; Aleksandra Krstić; Sophie Lecheler; Misook Lee; Christi I.Hsuan Lin; Marco Mazzoni; Kieran McGuinness; Karen McIntyre; Jacques Mick; Cristina Navarro; Dasniel Olivera; Marcela Pizarro; Henry Silke; Terje Skjerdal; Agnieszka Stępińska; Gabriella Szabó; Diana Viveros Aguilar

doi:10.1177/10776990231173890

Comparing Journalistic Role Performance Across Thematic Beats: A 37-Country Study

Claudia Mellado^*, Mireya Márquez-Ramírez, Sarah Van Leuven, Daniel Jackson, Cornelia Mothes, Carlos Arcila-Calderón, Jérome Berthaut, Nicole Blanchett, Sandrine Boudana, Katherine Y.N. Chen, Sergey Davydov, Mariana De Maio, Nagwa Fahmy, Martina Ferrero, Miguel Garcés, Lutz Hagen, Daniel C. Hallin, María Luisa Humanes, Marju Himma-Kadakas, Guido KeelClaudia Kozman, Aleksandra Krstić, Sophie Lecheler, Misook Lee, Christi I.Hsuan Lin, Marco Mazzoni, Kieran McGuinness, Karen McIntyre, Jacques Mick, Cristina Navarro, Dasniel Olivera, Marcela Pizarro, Henry Silke, Terje Skjerdal, Agnieszka Stępińska, Gabriella Szabó, Diana Viveros Aguilar

^*Corresponding author for this work

NUQ Journalism Program

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies suggest that, at the routine level, news beats function as unique “micro-cultures.” Exploring this “particularist” approach in news content, we compare how the interventionist, watchdog, loyal, service, infotainment, and civic roles materialize across 11 thematic news beats and analyze the moderating effect of platforms, ownership, and levels of political freedom on journalistic role performance in hard and soft news. Based on the second wave of the Journalistic Role Performance (JRP) project, this article reports the findings of a content analysis of 148,474 news items from 37 countries. Our results reveal the transversality of interventionism, the strong associations of some topics and roles, and the limited reach of news beat particularism in the face of moderating variables.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	97-126
Number of pages	30
Journal	Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
Volume	101
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231173890
State	Published - Mar 2024

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study has been funded in Chile by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso; in Switzerland by the Institute of Applied Media Studies (IAM) at the Zurich University of Applied Studies (ZHAW); in Spain by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness. Project “Journalism models in the multiplatform context” ref. CSO2017-82816-P; in Mexico by the Division of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City, Excepcional Standard Grant 2019–2022; in Brazil by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development/Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); in Qatar by Northwestern University in Qatar; in Hungary by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office under the grant agreement no. NKFIA FK 131990; in Rwanda by the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences SEED Award, and in Canada by Mitacs, Centre d’études sur les médias, The Journalism Research Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University, The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Toronto Metropolitan University.

Keywords

journalism
news beats
professional roles
role performance
soft and hard news

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Communication

Access to Document

10.1177/10776990231173890

Cite this

Mellado, C., Márquez-Ramírez, M., Van Leuven, S., Jackson, D., Mothes, C., Arcila-Calderón, C., Berthaut, J., Blanchett, N., Boudana, S., Chen, K. Y. N., Davydov, S., De Maio, M., Fahmy, N., Ferrero, M., Garcés, M., Hagen, L., Hallin, D. C., Humanes, M. L., Himma-Kadakas, M., ... Viveros Aguilar, D. (2024). Comparing Journalistic Role Performance Across Thematic Beats: A 37-Country Study. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 101(1), 97-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231173890

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abstract = "Studies suggest that, at the routine level, news beats function as unique “micro-cultures.” Exploring this “particularist” approach in news content, we compare how the interventionist, watchdog, loyal, service, infotainment, and civic roles materialize across 11 thematic news beats and analyze the moderating effect of platforms, ownership, and levels of political freedom on journalistic role performance in hard and soft news. Based on the second wave of the Journalistic Role Performance (JRP) project, this article reports the findings of a content analysis of 148,474 news items from 37 countries. Our results reveal the transversality of interventionism, the strong associations of some topics and roles, and the limited reach of news beat particularism in the face of moderating variables.",

keywords = "journalism, news beats, professional roles, role performance, soft and hard news",

author = "Claudia Mellado and Mireya M{\'a}rquez-Ram{\'i}rez and {Van Leuven}, Sarah and Daniel Jackson and Cornelia Mothes and Carlos Arcila-Calder{\'o}n and J{\'e}rome Berthaut and Nicole Blanchett and Sandrine Boudana and Chen, {Katherine Y.N.} and Sergey Davydov and {De Maio}, Mariana and Nagwa Fahmy and Martina Ferrero and Miguel Garc{\'e}s and Lutz Hagen and Hallin, {Daniel C.} and Humanes, {Mar{\'i}a Luisa} and Marju Himma-Kadakas and Guido Keel and Claudia Kozman and Aleksandra Krsti{\'c} and Sophie Lecheler and Misook Lee and Lin, {Christi I.Hsuan} and Marco Mazzoni and Kieran McGuinness and Karen McIntyre and Jacques Mick and Cristina Navarro and Dasniel Olivera and Marcela Pizarro and Henry Silke and Terje Skjerdal and Agnieszka St{\c e}pi{\'n}ska and Gabriella Szab{\'o} and {Viveros Aguilar}, Diana",

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Mellado, C, Márquez-Ramírez, M, Van Leuven, S, Jackson, D, Mothes, C, Arcila-Calderón, C, Berthaut, J, Blanchett, N, Boudana, S, Chen, KYN, Davydov, S, De Maio, M, Fahmy, N, Ferrero, M, Garcés, M, Hagen, L, Hallin, DC, Humanes, ML, Himma-Kadakas, M, Keel, G, Kozman, C, Krstić, A, Lecheler, S, Lee, M, Lin, CIH, Mazzoni, M, McGuinness, K, McIntyre, K, Mick, J, Navarro, C, Olivera, D, Pizarro, M, Silke, H, Skjerdal, T, Stępińska, A, Szabó, G & Viveros Aguilar, D 2024, 'Comparing Journalistic Role Performance Across Thematic Beats: A 37-Country Study', Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 97-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231173890

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T2 - A 37-Country Study

AU - Mellado, Claudia

AU - Márquez-Ramírez, Mireya

AU - Van Leuven, Sarah

AU - Jackson, Daniel

AU - Mothes, Cornelia

AU - Arcila-Calderón, Carlos

AU - Berthaut, Jérome

AU - Blanchett, Nicole

AU - Boudana, Sandrine

AU - Chen, Katherine Y.N.

AU - Davydov, Sergey

AU - De Maio, Mariana

AU - Fahmy, Nagwa

AU - Ferrero, Martina

AU - Garcés, Miguel

AU - Hagen, Lutz

AU - Hallin, Daniel C.

AU - Humanes, María Luisa

AU - Himma-Kadakas, Marju

AU - Keel, Guido

AU - Kozman, Claudia

AU - Krstić, Aleksandra

AU - Lecheler, Sophie

AU - Lee, Misook

AU - Lin, Christi I.Hsuan

AU - Mazzoni, Marco

AU - McGuinness, Kieran

AU - McIntyre, Karen

AU - Mick, Jacques

AU - Navarro, Cristina

AU - Olivera, Dasniel

AU - Pizarro, Marcela

AU - Silke, Henry

AU - Skjerdal, Terje

AU - Stępińska, Agnieszka

AU - Szabó, Gabriella

AU - Viveros Aguilar, Diana

PY - 2024/3

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AB - Studies suggest that, at the routine level, news beats function as unique “micro-cultures.” Exploring this “particularist” approach in news content, we compare how the interventionist, watchdog, loyal, service, infotainment, and civic roles materialize across 11 thematic news beats and analyze the moderating effect of platforms, ownership, and levels of political freedom on journalistic role performance in hard and soft news. Based on the second wave of the Journalistic Role Performance (JRP) project, this article reports the findings of a content analysis of 148,474 news items from 37 countries. Our results reveal the transversality of interventionism, the strong associations of some topics and roles, and the limited reach of news beat particularism in the face of moderating variables.

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KW - news beats

KW - professional roles

KW - role performance

KW - soft and hard news

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Comparing Journalistic Role Performance Across Thematic Beats: A 37-Country Study

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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