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The Public Image of Journalists

Wolfgang Donsbach

Communication Research Center at Boston University

November 12, 2009

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Reasons to Deal With the Public Image of Journalists

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Commercia-lization

Inflation of media

Allegations of bias and negativity

Media scandals

Vanishing identity of journalism

Current stress on journalists‘ public image

Decreasing trust and esteem

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…and it shows in surveys: Confidence in the press on the decline

Press

All other institutions

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Germany: Slow but steady decline of trust

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Representative survey of the German population

1,054 citizens of 18 years and older

RDD

Split-ballot

Field time: November 2007 until January 2008

Methodological Details of Our Survey

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"In the following I will read to you some professions. Please tell me if you have rather esteem for/trust in that profession or not." (rather esteem and rather trust as percentage)

n=527 (each split)

79

73

69

54

68

35

50

23

13

8

90

82

80

66

64

61

56

44

36

28

doctors

professors

teachers

lawyers

priests

journalists

public opinion researchers

press spokesmen

advertising specialists

politicians

020406080100 0 20 40 60 80 100

trustesteem

Low esteem, low trust - and far away from the true professions

Source: Donsbach et al. 2009

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n=527

24

50

35

23

74

45

60

70

18-24 25-44 45-59 60+

Age

0

20

40

60

80

rather trust

rather not trust

"In the following I will read to you some professions. Please tell me if you have rather esteem for/trust in that profession or not." (rather esteem and rather trust as percentage)

Lowest trust among the younger

Source: Donsbach et al. 2009

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What are the reasons?

4 x Content / 1 x Structural

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1. Too powerful

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Basis: Q1 = 1054; Q2 = 574

14

41

31

11

3

18

77

5

fully agree

agree

disagree

fully disagree

DK/NA

I find this acceptable

I find this unacceptable

DK/NA

0 20 40 60 80 100Prozent

Q1: Some people say that today journalists are more influential than politicians. Do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Q2: And do find this acceptable or unacceptable that journalists are more iinfluential than politicians?

Journalists more powerful than politicians

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Split Ballot, n=527 each, scale points collapsed: important and rather important

-60%

-45%

-39%

-12%

-10%

-9%

1%

37%

40%

be respectful to other people

tolerate other opinions

help socially impaired people

live and act self-dependendly

be hard-working and ambitious

be independent of others

be politically active

pursue one's own needs

have power and influence

0% 20% 40% 60%-20%-40%-60%-80%

0% 20% 40% 60%-20%-40%-60%-80%

Goals and values: Discrepancy between public's expectations and evaluations

Too little

Too much

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Impartiality vs subjectivity

Expect? Most journalists?

Imp

art

ial

rep

ort

Su

bje

cti

ve

rep

ort

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2. Too unethical

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19

91

79

8

expectation evaluation0

20

40

60

80

100

acceptable/happens oftennot acceptable/happens rarely/never

A famous actor spends his vacation with his family. A journalist who ihappens to be in the same hotel shoots fotos of him and his children playing in the pool. Do you think the publication of these pictures acceptable or not acceptable?

And do you think this happens often, rarely or never in day-to-day media work?

Protection of privacy vs a scoop

Not

accep

tab

le

Hap

pen

s o

ften

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3. Too corrupt

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Independence vs gratification

Acceptable? Happens?

No!

oft

en

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47

65

48

28

Expectation Perception0

20

40

60

80

100

n=527

"A newspaper solicits a new big advertiser. Shortly after it prints a favorable story about this company. Is this acceptable or not acceptable? Follow-up Question: "And do you think this happens frequently, sometimes or not at all in day-to-day practice of the media?"

not

acc

ep

tab

le

happens

frequentl

y

Independence vs revenues

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4. Too much tabloidization

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Hard vs soft news?

Acceptable? Happens?

No!

oft

en

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Summary: What Content Features Drive Public Image of Journalists?

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The Public's expectations and evaluations concerning news quality "In your opinion, how important are the following caracteristics for news in TV, radio, newspaper and internet?" (expectation)/"By thinking about news in TV, radio, newspaper and Internet, how much do the following characteristics actually apply?" (evaluation) (very and rather important/apply and rather apply as percentage)Differences between percentages for expectation and evaluation in percentage points

n=527 (each split)

-27

-21

-13

-13

-12

-7

-3

-1

22

provide detailed background information

present opposing opinions on issues

more facts, less opinions

cover the lifes of ordinary people

beeing not so negative

be a guidance in everyday life

help to understand social issues and events

be vivid and entertaining

prompt feelings and emotions

0 20 40 60 80-20-40-60-80

positive balancenegative balance

The public‘s expectation and evaluation concerning news quality

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(rather trust journalists as percentage)

fulfillment of

expectation

non-fulfillment of expectation

sign.

χ2

Example case objectivity II 42 37 3.34Example case moral considerations II

35 35 3.34

Example case soft versus hard news II

33 38 2.52

Example case privacy issues I

37 34 1.71

Example case economic independence II

42 31 * 6.19* p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001

Discrepancy expectations/perceptions of behavior in news sitiuations Trust

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(rather esteem journalists as percentage)

fulfillment of

expectation

non-fulfillment of expectation

sign. χ2

Example case objectivity I 65 58 2.87Example case moral considerations I

68 59 * 8.50

Example case soft versus hard news I

64 59 6.27

Example case privacy issues I

68 59 * 8.50

Example case economic independence I

68 57 ** 9.34* p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001

Discrepancy expectations/perceptions of behavior in news situations Esteem

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5. The Structural Reason: Fading Identity

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Donsbach et al. 2009

Who is a journalist?

Q: "I'am going to read you a list of different types of professions. Please tell me whether this is a journalist for you or not."

66%

63%

58%

53%

41%

28%

18%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

commentator

editor of a customer magazine

news anchor

spokesman

owner of a newspaper

'blogger'

talk-show host

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Fading coordinates: definition by age

"I am now going to read to you a few occupations. Please tell me in each case whether this in your eyes a journalist."

n= 1054

73%

47%

63%

32%

66%

31%

58%

14%

editor of a costumer magazine Blogger

"Is a journalist"

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%Age

18-24 25-44 45-59 60+

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Source:

Who is a journalist?

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Fading Ethical Coordinates: Acceptance of freebies by age"A journalist wants to report on cross country vehicles. He takes part in a journey to Dubai, where a new vehicle is presented. The journey is paid by the carmaker. Acceptbable or not?" (as percentage)

n=527

61

5147

3237

4853

61

18-24 25-44 45-59 60+0

20

40

60

80

acceptable

not acceptable

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Fading Coordinates: Website Traffic – Changes 2006-2007

Large City Newspapers

Mid-size City Dailies

News Aggregators

Bloggers

Joan Shorenstein Center for the Press, Politics, and Public Policy (2007): Creative Destruction: An Exploratory Look at News on the Internet. Cambridge: Harvard University

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Finally: What then IS journalism?

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The three traditions of journalism

Donsbach 2009

Subjective Tradition Pursuing individual

goals

Commercial Tradition

Give the people what they want

Public Service Tradition

Supplying valid in-formation

Goal Self-actualization Economic interest of

owners

Adaption of individ-ual to reality and

functioning of society Dominant Rela-

tionship Journalist-Authorities Media-

Mar-kets/Shareholders

Medium-Society

Prototypes John Milton Rupert Murdoch Joseph Pulitzer

Dominant Value Subjectivity/Freedom of expression

Economic suc-cess/shareholder

value

Objectivity/Plurality

Dominant Con-tent

Opinions over facts Whatever sells Facts over opinions

Journalist’s Role Individual writer Employee Professional

Defines professional journalism

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“Journalism is a constellation of practices that have acquired special status within the larger domain of communication through a long history that separated out news-sharing from its origins in interpersonal communication.

Telling others about events in one’s social and physical surroundings is a common everyday activity in human cultures…A main difficulty for sharing intelligence is ascertaining truth, or, put the other way round, distinguishing intelligence from gossip”

Barnhurst and Owens (2008: 2557)

Public service function: Distinguishing between evidence and gossip

News = more than personal communication

Society needs institution that assesses truth and relevance

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Subjective Tradition Pursuing individual

goals

Commercial Tradition

Give the people what they want

Public Service Tradition

Supplying valid in-formation

Goal Self-actualization Economic interest of

owners

Adaption of individ-ual to reality and

functioning of society Dominant Rela-

tionship Journalist-Authorities Media-

Mar-kets/Shareholders

Medium-Society

Prototypes John Milton Rupert Murdoch Joseph Pulitzer

Dominant Value Subjectivity/Freedom of expression

Economic suc-cess/shareholder

value

Objectivity/Plurality

Dominant Con-tent

Opinions over facts Whatever sells Facts over opinions

Journalist’s Role Individual writer Employee Professional

Is it all collapsing into the commercial function?

Donsbach 2009

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Figure 2: Diagrammatic Representation of the Econometric Model (will make this look better)

Sridhar, Thorson & Mantrala 2009

Investment in editorial quality pays off

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Figure 3a: Result of a 1% Cutback

Figure 3b: Results of Large-Sized Cutbacks

Basis: Data of ca. 300 papers in the US, Source: Inland Press Association

Revenue losses as a consequence of

cutbacks

Sridhar, Thorson & Mantrala 2009

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Quality Credibility Financial Success

Basis: Data from 26 Knight-Ridder papers

Size of Market (Logarithm)

Credibility of Newspaper (measured

through surveys)

Stability of Circulation 1995-2000

-0,046 +0,448

Meyer, Philip (2004): The Influence Model an Newspaper Business. NRJ 25, No.1, 66-83

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Credibility problem of journalism jeopardizes social capital

What do do?

Actively propagate the function and identity of journalism…

…in journalism education

…in schools

…in public campaigns

Re-consider professionalization of journalists

best practice in exchange for…

…protection from unprofessional influences

Journalism as the new knowledge profession (Gregorian)

The crisis of journalism as chance