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Research in Journalism, Media and Culture

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Faculty in Journalism, Culture and Communication analyze emerging and enduring forms of public communication and the institutional and economic conditions that sustain them. They employ a range of research methods, including ethnography, textual and historical analysis, and political economic approaches to media industries. As digital technologies have transformed mediated practices, the faculty has opened a series of new areas of inquiry, including computational journalism, the study of algorithms in institutions, and the cultural history of Silicon Valley.

Angèle Christin  is an associate professor. She is interested in fields and organizations where algorithms and ‘big data’ analytics transform professional values, expertise, and work practices. In her dissertation, she analyzed the growing importance of audience metrics in web journalism in the United States and France. Drawing on ethnographic methods, she examined how American and French journalists make sense of traffic numbers in different ways, which in turn has distinct effects on the production of news in the two countries. In a new project, she studies the construction, institutionalization, and reception of analytics and predictive algorithms in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Ted Glasser  is an emeritus professor.  His teaching and research focus on media practices and performance, with emphasis on questions of press responsibility and accountability. His books include  Normative Theories of the Media: Journalism in Democratic Societies,  written with Clifford Christians, Denis McQuail, Kaarle Nordenstreng, and Robert White, which in 2010 won the Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha award for best research-based book on journalism/mass communication and was one of three finalists for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Tankard Book Award;  The Idea of Public Journalism , an edited collection of essays, recently translated into Chinese;  Custodians of Conscience: Investigative Journalism and Public Virtue , written with James S. Ettema, which won the Society of Professional Journalists’ award for best research on journalism, the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, and the Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha award for the best research-based book on journalism/mass communication;  Public Opinion and the Communication of Consent , edited with Charles T. Salmon; and  Media Freedom and Accountability , edited with Everette E. Dennis and Donald M. Gillmor.  His research, commentaries and book reviews have appeared in a variety of publications, including the  Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Journalism Studies, Policy Sciences, Journal of American History, Quill, Nieman Reports  and  The New York Times Book Review .

James T. Hamilton  is a professor and the director of the Journalism Program. His work on the economics of news focuses on the market failures involved in the production of public affairs coverage and the generation of investigative reporting. Through research in the emerging area of computational journalism, he is exploring how to lower the cost of discovering stories about the operation of political institutions.

Xiaochang Li  is an assistant professor. She is broadly interested in the history of informatics, computation, and related data practices. Drawing upon media history, history of science, and STS, her work is concerned with how information technologies shape the production and circulation of knowledge and the relationship between technical practices and social worlds. Her current research examines the history of speech recognition and natural language processing and how the pursuit of language influenced the development of AI, Machine Learning, and contemporary algorithmic culture. Her work also touches on sound studies and the history of acoustics and she has previously worked on topics concerning transnational media audiences and digital content circulation.

Fred Turner  is a professor and cultural historian of media and media technologies. Trained in both Communication and Science and Technology Studies, he has long been interested in how media and American culture have shaped one another over time. His most recent work has focused on the rise of American technocracy since World War II and on the aesthetic and ideological manifestations of that rise in the digital era. Before earning his Ph.D., Turner worked as a journalist for ten years. He continues to write for newspapers and magazines and strongly supports researchers who seek to have a public impact with their work.

Like all Communication faculty, the members of the Journalism, Communication and Culture group routinely collaborate with colleagues from around the campus. The group enjoys particularly strong collaborations with sociologists, historians, art historians, and computer scientists.

Faculty — Journalism, Media and Culture

Doctoral Students — Journalism, Media and Culture

Selected Graduates

• Sanna Ali, Ph.D. 2023. AI Policy Analyst, Stanford Cyber Policy Center and RegLab
• Jeff Nagy, Ph.D. 2023. Assistant Professor, Communication and Media Studies, York University
• Anna Gibson, Ph.D. 2022. Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing
• Jihye Lee , Ph.D. 2022. Assistant Professor, School of Advertising and Public Relations, UT Austin
• Andreas Katsanevas, Ph.D. 2020. Technology Policy Researcher, Meta
• Sheng Zou,  Ph.D. 2020. Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Christine Larson , Ph.D. 2017. Assistant Professor, Journalism, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Yeon Joo , Ph.D. 2014. Associate Professor, Department of Digital Media, Myongji University, Seoul
• Morgan G. Ames , Ph.D. 2013. Assistant Adjunct Professor, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley
• Seeta Pena Gangdaharan , Ph.D. 2012. Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics
• Mike Ananny , Ph.D. 2011, Associate Professor, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
• Daniel Kreiss , Ph.D. 2010, Associate Professor, School of Media and Journalism, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• John Kim , Ph.D. 2009, Associate Professor, Media and Cultural Studies, Macalaster College
• Erica Robles-Anderson , Ph.D. 2009, Associate Professor, Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University
• Isabel Awad , Ph.D. 2007, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University (Netherlands)
• Cherian George , Ph.D. 2003, Professor, Associate Dean, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Francis Lapfung Lee , Ph.D. 2003, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, City University of Hong Kong

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Journalism in Practice Studies: A Systematic Review

• First Online: 22 February 2024

Cite this chapter

• Thouraya Snoussi 4 &
• Nourah Ahmed Al-Hooti   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3663-0130 5  

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks of Political Science and International Relations ((SHPPSIR))

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This chapter deals with the literature related to journalism in practice studies (JPS) during the years from 2003 to 2023 in the hope of recognizing the usefulness of these studies for the society, especially for journalism practitioners. The findings of the systematic review highlight the growing interest in JPS research along with the increased recognition of its perspectives over the past 20 years. The analysis provided us with many studies that were based on different disciplines and dealt with a variety of fields, such as journalism ethics and professionalism, newsroom cultures and practices, and technological shifts in journalism. Furthermore, the sample studied shows that JPS has focused on qualitative studies, including textual and narrative analyses. For this, the authors believe that the JPS literature considered in this chapter provides insights for journalist practitioners into role development, changing audience behaviors, and technological advances, allowing them to adapt and stay informed. As advances in technology continue to shape the field, JPS is keeping an eye on digital transformation, especially artificial intelligence, and looks for ways to leverage it in the practice of journalism. Thus, future research will be devoted to exploring the ever-evolving landscape of journalism and its multifaceted dimensions.

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Snoussi, T., Al-Hooti, N.A. (2024). Journalism in Practice Studies: A Systematic Review. In: Barkho, L., Lugo-Ocando, J.A., Jamil, S. (eds) Handbook of Applied Journalism. Springer Handbooks of Political Science and International Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48739-2_9

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Article contents

Journalists’ professional roles and role performance.

• Claudia Mellado Claudia Mellado School of Journalism, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.832
• Published online: 25 February 2019

Professional roles are a key topic in journalism research along with the fundamental elements in defining journalism as a profession. For many decades, scholars have devoted their efforts to analyzing normative standards and journalistic ideals, while their analysis through the lens of professional performance has remained in the background. Nevertheless, considerably more attention has been paid over the past decade to the theorization of the different concepts in play when analyzing professional roles in journalism, especially the study of journalistic role performance (i.e., the manifestation of professional roles in both news decisions and the news outcome that reaches the public). Studies on journalistic role performance are able to tell us how or to what extent news professionals have enough autonomy for their role conceptions or perceptions to be manifested in journalistic practices, as well as in the news product made available to the public.

So far, research on journalistic role performance has systematically found patterns of multilayered hybridization in journalistic cultures across and within advanced, transitional, and non-democratic countries. Several studies have also shown significant discrepancies depending on societal, organizational, and individual factors, as well as a wide gap between journalistic ideals and professional practices. Some of these studies have also found significant discrepancies between journalists’ role conceptions and their perceived role enactments.

Future studies need to address the intrinsic capacity of social media platforms to deinstitutionalize communication through parallel channels, which may turn out to be a crucial element when it comes to performing both traditional and new journalistic roles.

• professional roles
• journalistic role performance
• journalistic cultures
• role conception
• role perception
• perceived role enactment
• comparative journalistic research
• professionalism
• journalism studies

Introduction

As an object of study, professional roles are one of the key topics in journalism research (Mellado, Hellmueller, & Donsbach, 2017a , p. 3). They are also the fundamental elements when it comes to defining journalism as a profession. In this respect, journalistic roles become essential components of journalistic cultures.

Journalistic cultures represent the cultural capital that, as “interpretive communities,” journalists share. They may manifest themselves in values and ideals as well as in journalistic practices (Mellado et al., 2017a ; Schudson, 2003 ; Zelizer, 1993 ).

For many decades, the study of professional roles in journalism was addressed mostly from the perspective of normative standards and journalistic ideals, while their analysis through the lens of professional performance remained in the background.

Through surveys of and interviews with journalists, an extensive array of studies around the globe have analyzed both the different roles that they should normatively fulfill in society (Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng, & White, 2009 ) as well as the roles that journalists consider important for their profession (Hanitzsch, 2011 ; Hanitzsch et al., 2011 ; Patterson & Donsbach, 1996 ; Weaver, Beam, Brownlee, Voakes, & Wilhoit, 2007 ; Weaver & Wilhoit, 1986 , 1996 ; Weaver & Willnat, 2012 ; Weinacht & Spiller, 2014 ; Willnat, Weaver, & Choi, 2013 ). Among the classic empirical typologies of roles are the “neutral” and “participant” roles found by Cohen ( 1963 ); the “neutral,” “watchdog,” and “analytical” roles found by Johnstone, Slawski, and Bowman ( 1976 ); the “disseminator,” the “interpreter,” the “watchdog,” and the “populist mobilizer” roles found by Weaver and his team at Indiana University (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1986 , 1996 ; Weaver et al., 2007 ), or the “bloodhound” and “missionary” functions proposed by Köcher ( 1986 ).

Studies on professional role conceptions have been Western-oriented (Josephi, 2005 ; Hallin & Mellado, 2018 ; Mellado, 2015 ). Most early studies on role conceptions were designed and conducted in advanced democracies (especially the United States). 1 Later, researchers from other regions such as Latin America, Asia, and Africa became interested in applying these surveys to their own journalists to establish which professional roles were most important to them (e.g., Deuze, 2002 ; Herscovitz, 2004 ; Muchtar, Hamada, Hanitzsch, Masduki, & Ullah, 2017 ; Pasti, 2005 ; Ramaprasad, 2001 ; Wilke, 1998 ; Zhu, Weaver, Lo, Chen, & Wu, 1997 ). However, most of them relied on measurements or conceptual approaches developed in the West, basically because they were already available.

Over the past six decades, most of these studies have typically shown that journalists worldwide endorse professional roles and values that emphasize neutrality, objectivity, and the scrutiny of official behavior, holding those in power accountable (e.g., Donsbach & Patterson, 2004 ; Hanitzsch et al., 2011 ; Patterson & Donsbach, 1996 ; Weaver, 1998 ; Weaver & Willnat, 2012 ).

One of the basic assumptions of role conception research is that the way in which journalists understand their roles shapes the news content they produce. This assumption is mostly based on psychological studies that have shown a significant relationship between attitudes and behavior in specific working and personal environments (Kim & Hunter, 1993 ).

Indeed, earlier studies on role conceptions argued that there was a significant relationship between role conceptions and journalistic decisions (Kepplinger, Brosius, & Staab, 1991 ; Patterson & Donsbach, 1996 ; Starck & Soloski, 1977 ). However, those studies did not compare the rhetoric on roles with actual journalistic performance but only journalists’ perceptions of different professional roles, as well as what they thought they actually did. However, as we know, surveys will never measure actual behavior.

Moreover, the extent to which journalistic ideals can manifest themselves in practice in the journalistic field depends on myriad factors that frequently yield differences and sometimes contradictions between what professionals would like to do and what they actually do in their work (Mellado et al., 2017a ; Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ; Shoemaker & Reese, 2013 ; Van Dalen, de Vreese, & Albæk, 2012 ).

As far back as the 1930s, Rosten ( 1937 ) had already warned of the tension between professional ideals and practical constraints. Since then, gatekeeping theory and the hierarchy-of-influences approach have analyzed a variety of constraints that might influence how journalists perform their roles, suggesting that explanations of journalistic cultures based solely on role conception research should be questioned rather than assumed (Shoemaker & Reese, 2013 ; Shoemaker & Vos, 2009 ).

Due to the problem of taking survey data as valid measurements of journalistic practice (Patterson & Donsbach, 1996 ; Schudson, 2003 ; Vos, 2002 ) and the lack of theorization of professional roles within the journalistic field (Mellado et al., 2017a ), considerably more attention has been paid over the past decade to the study of journalistic role performance, that is, the manifestation of professional roles in both news decisions and the news outcome that reaches the public (Hallin & Mellado, 2018 ; Humanes & Roses, 2018 ; Mellado, 2015 ; Mellado, Humanes, Scherman, & Ovando, 2018 ; Mellado et al., 2017a , 2017b ; Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ; Stępińska, Jurga-Wosik, Adamczewska, Selcer, & Narożna, 2016 ; Vos, 2002 ; Tandoc, Hellmueller, & Vos, 2013 ; Wang, Sparks, Lü, & Huang, 2017 ).

The concept of role performance focuses on the connection between journalists’ beliefs about the role of journalism and the actual practice of producing the news (Mellado, 2015 ). It connects studies on the professionalism of roles with those on news production and the sociology of news.

In accordance with gatekeeping and hierarchy-of-influences studies, more recent research measuring both role conceptions and actual role performance has systematically shown a wide gap between professional ideals and professional practices at different levels (Brüggemann & Engesser, 2014 ; Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ; Tandoc et al., 2013 ; Vos, 2002 ).

Different studies assert that although journalistic role conception research is an important component for the study of professionalism, where “ideals and values are the tools and skill sets that set journalism apart from other fields and guarantee its autonomy from heteronymous forces, and serve to legitimatize and define journalism” (Mellado, 2015 , p. 596), the constraints to which they are exposed within the profession limit the possibility of living up to their normative standards (Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ), even though journalists may have clear ideas about which professional roles are most important to them.

Research on journalistic role performance has also shown that the practice of the profession seems to vary much more widely than the current findings on journalistic ideals would suggest. The most recent empirical studies have found patterns of multilayered hybridization in professional role performance worldwide, with journalistic cultures displaying multiple “types of journalism” that do not fully resemble ideal typologies of roles or media systems (Humanes & Roses, 2018 ; Mellado et al., 2017b ; Mellado, Márquez-Ramírez, Mick, Oller Alonso, & Olivera, 2017e ; Stępińska et al., 2016 ; Wang et al., 2017 ). In other words, these studies have found that when considering the performance of essential roles of journalism in society, ideal or conventional assumptions about journalistic role conceptions in different societal settings fail to work.

Such results reported by the international literature on journalistic role performance in recent years have undeniably re-opened the opportunity to discuss the extent to which professional roles are contingent upon different levels of influence (Mellado et al., 2017a ). In this context, the concept of journalistic role performance becomes quite valuable since it focuses attention on issues relating to structure, agency, culture, and political economy. These issues are key to the understanding of journalism as a social practice (Esser, 2008 ). Journalistic role performance also raises the problem of the connection between journalism’s normative ideals and practice (Schudson, 2003 ), and encourages us to think about how ideals arise and function within a larger social context and how they relate to journalistic performance.

It is relevant to consider that although this entry is squarely positioned in the quantitative research tradition—as it is the tradition of most role performance, role conception, and role perception studies—there is a lot of newsroom and ethnography research that actually addresses these specific issues using a different conceptual framework. Indeed, reading authors from media sociology like Goffman ( 1959 ) or Tuchman ( 1972 ) clearly shows us that the notion of role performance has been quite close to qualitative and ethnographic research that has dealt with how journalists actually “operationalize” their own ideals in their daily practice.

Professional Roles as Object of Study

One of the main challenges of quantitative studies on journalistic professional roles over time has been the lack of theorization and empirical focus on analyzing the link between role conception and journalistic practice. Basically, journalistic roles have mostly been used as an empirical concept to study the functions on which journalists place more importance in society, while the definitions given to the construct “professional role” have varied quite widely (Mellado, Hellmueller, & Weaver, 2017c ).

Overall, role theory defines a role as the expected behavior of people who occupy a particular social status and position in society (Biddle, 1979 ; Montgomery, 1998 ). In other words, a role has been conceptualized as the function undertaken by an individual in accordance with the normative demands placed upon that individual in his or her position (Goffman, 1961 , p. 85). It should be noted, however, that roles might take different forms depending on the level of analysis applied to them.

Mellado et al. ( 2017a ) distinguished four different concepts within the construct of professional roles in journalism: role conception, role perception, (perceived) role enactment, and role performance (see Table 1 ), taking into account the dual empirical and evaluative aspect thereof. The differences between these concepts are not only about how they are defined but also about how they can be empirically measured (Blumer, 1969 ; Lynch, 2007 ; Turner, 2006 ).

Role conception: The purposes of the profession that a journalist conceives as most important at the individual level, and where the journalists’ evaluation of a specific role is not necessarily related to social consensus.

Role perception: Perceived role expectations in society. Role perceptions do not form a mental picture of a role for a particular journalist and do not necessarily have a location in the conceiver. They may instead follow a script that has been internalized and is located in a larger social structure. For example, journalists who perceive a watchdog role as important may have internalized the way of thinking expected by the media outlet where they work.

Role enactment: The implementation of a journalistic role focusing on the individual journalist only. Here, of course, there is a need for consistency between the journalist’s role conception/perception and his or her behavior. Within journalism studies, role enactment has been addressed mostly at the evaluative level of analysis, referring to what journalists think they do (Culbertson, 1983 ; Oi, Fukuda, & Sako, 2012 ; Patterson & Donsbach, 1996 ; Skovsgaard, Albæk, Bro, & de Vreese, 2013 ; Weischenberg, Malik, & Scholl, 2006 ). Some studies have used the term “role enactment” to analyze the manifestation of journalistic roles in news content (Carpenter, Boehmer, & Fico, 2015 ; Tandoc et al., 2013 ; Vos, 2002 ). Nevertheless, given the internal and external constraints that impact journalism, the concept of role enactment may never be fully applied within the journalistic profession. In this respect, role enactment differs from role performance in that it is more difficult to accomplish in journalism, since it implies that journalists have autonomy and freedom over their work, thereby being able to individually put into practice what they think are the most important roles of their profession.

Role performance: The collective outcome of concrete newsroom decisions and the style of journalistic reporting, taking into consideration the different factors that influence journalism as a professional practice (Mellado et al., 2017a , p. 5). Role performance deals with behaviors (Biddle, 1979 ; Burke & Reitzes, 1981 ), and it can be seen as an outcome of dynamic negotiations influenced by different internal and external constraints that potentially inhibit, but may also enable, the practice of journalism (Mellado, 2015 ; Vos, 2005 ). Within this context, role performance can explain the extent to which journalists’ news decisions and reporting styles are influenced by a journalist’s specific role conception, perception, or perceived enactment, or by other variables that are not in the mix of expectations perceived as legitimate.

The performative level of professional roles is the level most likely to be observed by the public and different reference groups through the outcome of newsroom decisions (e.g., the news story). Nevertheless, the study of role performance also enables an analysis that captures the so-called backstage of news production, that is, the negotiations with different reference groups, the search for sources, styles of data gathering, and the verification process.

It should be borne in mind that although its relevant components are inevitably determined by normative criteria, the concept of role performance is not a normative one (Mellado, 2015 ; Mellado et al., 2017a ).

Indeed, roles are not universal, so they are not good or bad per se. They are historical, are situational, and can be mediated constantly depending on the specific contexts. Journalists in advanced democracies, for example, may perform a more detached watchdog role or a more adversarial watchdog role, as happens in the cases of the United States and Spain. Likewise, journalists from transitional democracies may perform a more civic role or stick to performing a disseminator role if, for example, they are still fearful of a dictatorship regime. At the same time, journalists working for a very commercialized media outlet or in specific news beats may use the infotainment role in a much more prominent way, while in non-democratic countries the adversarial role or the loyal-facilitator role (depending on what type of dictatorship it is, of course) would be more appropriate.

Table 1. Role Conception, Perception, Enactment, and Performance in Journalism

Source: Mellado et al. ( 2017a , p. 7).

The differences in the way roles are conceptualized are limited by the applied perspective. The functionalist approach—the one used for most studies on professional role conceptions—sees a role as the set of expectations that a society places on an individual, creating regular rules and patterns of behavior. This definition stresses normative expectations and social consensus, where the performance of a role tends to be taken for granted. 2

This excess of normativism has meant that most research is still limited to “hard” news, giving the impression that journalistic professional roles are more relevant to specific groups of the profession that interact with the power elites, while ignoring those that report on other issues or topics. Indeed, the emphasis that the field has put on the link between politics and journalism has diminished other areas and elements of journalism that do not belong to this relationship (Zelizer, 2011 ). This has certainly affected the configuration of professional roles that are now addressed from both the normative and the empirical levels, and the way in which they have been studied. For example, social media raises important questions about journalists’ roles and their identity in a shared media space (Duggan, 2015 ; Hermida, 2014 ).

Meanwhile, the interactionism perspective—the one used by studies on role performance—does not see roles as being fixed but instead as negotiated and changeable within a particular social context (Blumer, 1969 ; Lynch, 2007 ; Mellado, 2015 ; Vos, 2005 , 2017 ). As it has been already mentioned, role performance studies conceptualize professional roles as flexible, situational, and independent sets of functions that can be combined in various ways across space and time, often subject to adaptation and combination (Hallin & Mellado, 2018 , p. 28). This approach is closer to the one used by earlier research that tackled some of these issues using a different methodology, e.g., newsroom ethnography studies.

The Gap Between Professional Ideals and Journalistic Performance

The gap between ideals of roles or normative values and role performance is measured as the degree of congruence or discrepancy between role conception, role perception, or perceived role enactment and professional performance (Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ).

Understanding the gap and the relationship between what journalists want to do (or think they ought to do) and what they and the media actually perform is crucial to the analysis of forces affecting news production.

Journalists may see their main role as that of providing information that citizens need in order to be active in political life, yet they may be unable to perform that role because political stories do not necessarily attract large audiences. They may also see their main role as that of acting as a “watchdog” over those in power, yet they may be unable to perform that role in most countries due to obstacles such as government control, corporate control over the media (e.g., owners have veiled corporate interests that might become compromised by watchdog stories), among others constraints. For journalists, this situation is the rule rather than the exception. Moreover, the threats and harassment that these professionals face are a global challenge, even for advanced democracies (Löfgren & Örnebring, 2016 ).

In this respect, it is important to bear in mind that when the performance of individual journalists differs from the characteristics of their role conception or perception, it is not necessarily an indicator of a malfunctioning news organization. Indeed, such journalists may perform roles that conflict with those they think they do or like or ought to do with those their colleagues perform, those expected by the media outlet where they work, and even those embedded within the macro-organizational structure in which the media is located.

While systematic studies dedicated to measuring the gap are relatively recent and evidence of the forces explaining such a gap is still insufficient, I discuss here several reasons that may explain the distance between professional ideals and journalistic practice.

Professional roles are not mutually exclusive (Mellado, 2015 ); they are historically constructed and sometimes conflicting (Vos, 2017 ), so journalists have to combine them in various ways when they produce a news story. They may praise specific ideals of the profession, but their practices are guided by roles that are context specific and not fixed, which can be applied in different ways, as already exemplified in the section “ Professional Roles as Object of Study ” (Mellado, 2015 ).

Traditional approaches assume that professional roles are fully contracted by behavior and categorized by norms, values, and beliefs (Ashforth, 2001 ). Nevertheless, previous studies have suggested that journalistic roles cannot be considered discrete categories (Mellado, 2015 ; Vos, 2005 ). Indeed, while at the normative level it is possible to talk about ideal types of roles in journalism, in practice this becomes impossible, since professional roles at all stages (conception, perception, perceived enactment, and performance) may overlap in practice (Lynch, 2007 ). In this respect, unlike ideals and values that are easier to transfer, and unlike media system characteristics that have shown more discernible patterns in comparative studies, such as legal frameworks, the size and scope of their media markets, the nature of state intervention, or the extent to which political instrumentalization and parallelism are present, the actual manifestation of journalistic roles is more difficult to fit into existing ideal typologies, since they are constantly changing, being mediated not only by social, organizational, and individual factors, but also by the local context of the news (Mellado et al., 2017b ).

The existence of multiple roles partly reflects the institutional context within which journalists work. Also, since news professionals write for many different audiences simultaneously, journalistic role ideals are often rooted in conceptions of the audience, which often means that several roles overlap when writing a single story.

The gap may also be partly due to differences in the conceptualization of the ideal–practice connection. While some research focuses on the ideal–practice connection as a relationship (Scholl & Weischenberg, 1998 ) (e.g., studying whether journalists who place more importance on the infotainment role of journalism are more likely to perform that role), other studies address the connection between ideals and practice as a gap, by focusing on the distance between the two. Of course, different conclusions may be drawn depending on which of the two approaches are used (Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ).

Another possibility is that the gap is, in part, a methodological artifact that may be due to the fact that previous research has not measured role conceptions correctly. For example, in the surveys typically used to measure role conception, the wording of the questions might be too abstract, meaning that journalists do not actually have a common basis on which to reply, thus resulting in non-comparable responses. Another flaw of survey-based research is that journalists might give socially desirable responses that fit normative expectations. Their responses therefore might be about what they would like or are expected to do instead of what they actually do. It is also common for journalists from different contexts to understand concepts differently or give different meanings to concepts such as neutrality or partisanship. For example, the translation of Western ideals such as truth and freedom does not really capture the ways in which those norms are articulated within other contexts. Thus, the fact that they are implemented and understood according to local realities suggests that there are no straightforward universal journalistic practices with unanimous and stable meanings.

It may also be the case that journalists interviewed for studies measuring role conceptions do or do not have great influence over the most important decisions on news content and that the gap should be also addressed at the organizational level (Mellado, Mothes, Hallin, Humanes, 2019 ). Finally, the lack of validation of some of the scales used to measure professional roles at the evaluative level (e.g., Hanitzsch et al., 2011 ) may have contributed to such a methodological artifact too.

There is no doubt that the gap also reflects the heterogeneity of the profession. Not all journalists, media organizations, or news beats embrace the same journalistic role conceptions and/or perceptions, and often there are struggles within the field over which role conceptions should prevail. Advising the consumer, for instance, is a paramount role in soft news and sections such as lifestyle or travel, as much as infotainment is a paramount role for sports or gossip. But even the so-called hard news sections are subject to forces of commercialization, and the inclusion of elements of roles like the infotainment one is becoming more and more common (Mellado, López-Rabadán, & Elórtegui, 2017d ; Uribe & Gunter, 2007 ).

The size of the gap obviously varies by situation, historical period, and social context, resulting in journalistic role conceptions being more or less coupled with role performance in different contexts (Vos, 2017 ). This is undeniably one of the most important advantages of the concept of role performance over the concept of role conception, since it focuses attention on the sources of such variation.

Studying Professional Roles

An important issue when studying not only every stage of professional roles but also the gap between ideals and practice is the way in which these concepts are empirically measured.

The very first studies to measure professional roles by content analysis were important efforts that laid the foundations for the study of journalistic role performance. Nevertheless, most of those studies were not clear about the operationalization of their measurements and were dependent on subjective interpretations rather than an investigation into specific practices that could potentially reveal professional roles in news content. For example, Weaver and Wilhoit ( 1996 ) and Vos ( 2002 ) studied role conceptions and separately evaluated news stories written by the surveyed reporters. However, the operational definition of roles in news content comprises several statements that are the same as the questions put to those journalists (Mellado, 2015 ).

Other studies on reporting styles that indirectly address different functions of the media tended to focus on isolated indicators (Benson & Hallin, 2007 ; Esser, 2008 ; Van Dalen, de Vreese, & Albæk, 2012 ), making it difficult to establish the reliability and validity of scales.

In order to overcome these serious limitations, initiatives like the international Journalistic Role Performance Around the Globe (JRP) Project have generated a common methodology, with valid scales to measure journalistic role performance in news content. Using these scales, scholars are able to analyze different dimensions of journalistic performance in different contextual settings to enable cross-national comparative research.

The performative level of journalistic cultures represents the level most likely to be observed by the public and different reference groups through the analysis of the outcome of newsroom decisions (e.g., the news story). Journalistic role performance as a product, then, is normally measured by content analysis.

Nevertheless, the performance of roles can also take the form of actions performed prior to the output, the so-called backstage of news production (Goffman, 1959 ), where the negotiations with different reference groups, the search for sources, and the verification process are crucial. Journalistic role performance as a process, then, should be measured by techniques such as ethnography and/or in-depth interviews.

The JRP Project focuses on the final output, analyzing how different dimensions of professional roles manifest themselves in news content across different countries and cultures. This project has been the starting point for other related studies, which have also addressed the disconnect between journalists’ norms and professional performance (e.g., Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ), as well as comparisons of role performance among media platforms (e.g., Hallin & Mellado, 2018 ).

Based on standardized content-based measures (Mellado, 2015 ), different studies have looked at the practice of six journalistic roles that run along the presence of the journalistic voice in the news, the relationship between journalism and those in power, and the way journalism approaches the audience. Relevant literature has previously suggested similar perspectives as three dimensions to be used for the analysis of journalistic roles (Donsbach, 2008 ; Hanitzsch, 2007 ). Based on this previous work, studies on role performance have indicated and then corroborated (e.g., Mellado et al., 2017b ; Mellado et al., 2013 ; Mellado & Van Dalen, 2017 ; Mellado & Vos, 2017f ; Mellado, Hanusch, Humanes et al., 2013 ) that, instead of dimensions, these are three interrelated domains from which six independent roles emerge: the interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, civic, and infotainment roles.

Following role theory research, studies on role performance also emphasize that these are not the only domains from which role performance can be studied, nor are they the only possible roles that can emerge from these domains (Mellado, 2015 ). Indeed, recent studies on journalistic performance analyze specific sub-dimensions that emerge from those roles (e.g., Márquez-Ramírez et al., 2019 ) as well as new domains of journalistic roles in social media spaces (Hermida & Mellado, 2019 ).

The measures used to analyze the manifestation of different journalistic roles in the news in different political, historical, and cultural contexts, have been inspired by both content analysis on journalistic practices mentioned throughout the text and important qualitative studies of newsroom practices (Bantz, McCorkle, & Baade, 1980 ; Bogaerts, 2011 ; Tuchman, 1972 ; Usher, 2014 ).

The journalistic voice domain deals with the presence of the journalists’ voice in the news. The passive stance of journalists in their reporting has been associated with the neutral and disseminator roles (Cohen, 1963 ; Weaver & Wilhoit, 1986 ), while the active stance has been linked to the participant (Donsbach & Patterson, 2004 ; Johnstone et al., 1976 ), advocate (Janowitz, 1975 ), and missionary roles (Köcher, 1986 ).

The power relations domain deals with the relationship between journalists and those in power. Journalists might defend the idea of monitoring de facto powers and denouncing wrongdoings (Waisbord, 2000 ), but, at the same time, they may see their role as acting as loyal spokespersons for those in power, conveying a positive image of them, supporting official policies, and portraying a positive image of one’s country, thereby encouraging the sense of belonging (Donohue, Tichenor, & Olien, 1995 ; Donsbach, 1995 ; Pasti, 2005 ; Mellado, 2015 ).

The audience approach domain deals with the way in which journalists address the audience. Based on this different understanding of the audience, they can be addressed as citizens, clients, or spectators (Eide & Knight, 1999 ; Rosen, 1996 ; Weaver et al., 2007 ).

Within each of these domains, professional roles can be measured in the news by specific indicators that resemble specific reporting styles. The journalistic voice domain involves the role of the journalist as interventionist vis-à-vis disseminator . The power relations domain involves the watchdog and the loyal-facilitator roles. Finally, the different understanding of the audience can be associated with three independent dimensions of professional roles: the civic, the infotainment, and the service roles.

All these roles—with the exception of the interventionist and the disseminator roles, which are part of a one-dimensional structure (Mellado, 2015 )—have been proved to be independent but relate to each other to some extent (Mellado et al. 2017b ; Mellado et al., 2013 ; Mellado & Van Dalen, 2017 ; Mellado & Vos, 2017 ; Mellado, Hanusch, Humanes et al., 2013 ). A news story may include, for example, elements from the watchdog role and from the loyal role at the same time. They cannot, therefore, be considered poles of a continuum as previous studies have suggested (Hanitzsch, 2007 ).

Each of the six dimensions of role performance is operationalized in terms of its practical manifestations in news content.

Figure 1. Dimensions of journalistic role performance.

As a template for empirical studies, roles are seen as empirical constructs to study role performance in news content within different cultural contexts. However, these are not the only perspectives from which role performance can be analyzed in the news, nor are they the only dimensions of journalistic performance that can be found in news content, particularly in the new media landscape. Moreover, taking into account that several concepts are inevitably culturally bound, it is likely that not all the indicators emerging from the literature will work in the same way in all societies, especially when considering that professional roles can be seen as reflective measurement models, in which the dimensions exist independently from the measures used, and where adding or removing an item does not change the conceptual domain of the dimension (Wirth & Kolb, 2012 ).

Professional Role Conception, Perception, and Perceived Enactment

While it may be true that measuring professional role performance by content analysis or ethnographic work is far more complex than measuring professional roles by surveys of journalists, the challenge of measuring role conceptions/perceptions or perceived role enactment properly is also very big.

Looking at the studies on role conception, role perception, and perceived enactment carried out over the past decades, the operational definition of roles mostly takes the form of abstract statements—such as being a detached observer—that journalists are asked to rate by indicating the extent to which such statements are important to them or to their media outlets, or the extent to which they believe they accomplish those functions. However, they do not take the form of specific practices—such as taking sides in a news story—that journalists may find easier to understand. Of course, what it means “to be a detached observer” for an Indian journalist, for example, is not necessarily the same for an American journalist. In contrast, the terms “opinion” or “interpretation” are globally shared. The same may happen among colleagues from different, or even the same newsroom or news beat. Indeed, the preliminary results of the JRP Project have shown, first, that there is more consistency in journalists’ responses to the questions addressing specific practices than those on abstract aspects of the profession, and second, that abstract and empirical indicators of role conceptions do not belong to the same role dimensions, that is, they do not measure the same thing (Mellado & Helmueller, 2015 ). I mentioned this issue in the section “ The Gap between Professional Ideals and Journalistic Performance ,” when remarking that the gap was a possible methodological artifact.

This critical aspect suggests that (a) possibly, role conceptions have not been measured correctly, and (b) the lack of clarity on the meaning of professional roles at the normative level leads to confusion between role conception, role perception, and perceived role enactment in studies on journalistic professional roles.

Finally, measuring the gap between role ideals and professional practices requires a combination of methods (e.g., surveys or interviews for role ideals and content analysis and/or newsroom observation or ethnography for role performance). The impact of other variables on news decisions and reporting styles can also be assessed through the interviews or data collected at the organizational and/or societal level.

Studying journalistic professional roles through the lens of not only evaluations of journalists’ work but also the way in which they perform their professional roles is far from being a mere academic exercise, since the way in which journalists cover news has a profound impact on shaping public and private spheres, on citizens, on governance, and on the democratic construction of a specific national system.

Studies on journalistic role performance move things a step forward because they are able to tell us how or to what extent news professionals have enough autonomy for their role conceptions to be manifested in journalistic practices as well as in the news product made available to the public. Indeed, one of the advantages of studying the performative level of journalistic roles is that it can help to measure journalistic autonomy in a more indirect yet objective way, by analyzing the extent to which journalists are able to put their professional roles and ideals into practice (Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ).

In this respect, unlike studies on professional role conceptions alone, journalistic role performance studies appear to offer different perspectives on the practice of journalism around the world, particularly in countries where evaluative elements are less articulated in practice (Mellado et al., 2017a ).

So far, while international studies on professional role conception/perception support the idea that journalists from different media systems conceptualize their roles as expected (Hanitzsch et al., 2011 ; Weaver & Willnat, 2012 ), research on journalistic role performance has systematically found patterns of multilayered hybridization in journalistic cultures across and within advanced, transitional, and non-democratic countries (Mellado et al., 2017b ). Several studies have also shown a significant gap between journalistic ideals and professional practices, particularly in roles more closely related to the professional ideal of the Fourth Estate; in countries with less press freedom; among journalists who cover “hard” news topics and those who feel more economic and political pressures. Also, some of these studies have found discrepancies between journalists’ role conceptions and their perceived role enactments (Mellado & Van Dalen, 2014 ; Roses & Humanes, 2019 ).

Likewise, studies on role performance have found significant differences in the performance of a variety of professional roles depending on the media platform (Hallin & Mellado, 2018 ), although the latest research suggests that the thematic beat and media audience orientation are more crucial variables in explaining differences in role performance (Humanes & Roses, 2018 ; Márquez- Ramírez et al., 2018 ; Mellado et al., 2018 ). Similar studies have also revealed a significant correlation between the prevalence of different sources and journalistic roles in news (Márquez- Ramírez et al., 2018 ).

One of the main challenges of studying journalistic roles, and, specifically, the performance of such roles today, is that the conceptual boundaries of journalism have become increasingly blurred in the current digital ecosystem. Social media’s intrinsic capacity to deinstitutionalize communication through parallel channels may turn out to be a crucial element when it comes to performing both traditional and new journalistic roles. Professional roles can certainly evolve and be redefined—in both discourse and practice—since their emergence and development not only have historical and contextual components but also a strong grounding in the logic that journalists use to communicate with the audience, and in the expectations of various reference groups. Future studies need to address all these elements.

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1. As Western journalists developed high levels of professionalism, their understanding of their roles began to take shape within a context in which individual journalists were believed to have a considerable influence over the news stories they produced.

2. The reliance on normative beliefs is not surprising considering that the journalistic field has been predominantly normative in nature (Hallin & Mancini, 2004 ; Mellado et al., 2017a ; Waisbord, 2013 ; Zelizer, 1993 , 2017 ), thus dictating whether journalism can be considered “good” or “bad” journalism.

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• Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News

As news consumption habits become more digital, U.S. adults continue to see value in local outlets

Table of contents.

• 1. Attention to local news
• 2. Local news topics
• Americans’ changing local news providers
• How people feel about their local news media’s performance
• Most Americans think local journalists are in touch with their communities
• Interactions with local journalists
• 5. Americans’ views on the financial health of local news
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

The Pew-Knight Initiative supports new research on how Americans absorb civic information, form beliefs and identities, and engage in their communities.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Knight Foundation is a social investor committed to supporting informed and engaged communities. Learn more >

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand the local news habits and attitudes of U.S. adults. It is a follow-up to a similar study conducted in 2018 .

The survey of 5,146 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 22 to 28, 2024. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.  Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Refer to the topline for the questions used for this survey , along with responses, and to the methodology for more details.

This is a Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Find related reports online at https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/ .

The local news landscape in America is going through profound changes as both news consumers and producers continue to adapt to a more digital news environment. We recently asked U.S. adults about the ways they access local news, as well as their attitudes toward local journalism, finding that:

• A growing share of Americans prefer to get local news online, while fewer are getting news on TV or in print. And newspapers are no longer primarily consumed as a print product – the majority of readers of local daily newspapers now access them digitally.
• The share of U.S. adults who say they are paying close attention to local news has dropped since our last major survey of attitudes toward local news in 2018, mirroring declining attention to national news.
• Americans still see value in local news and local journalists. A large majority say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community. Most people also say local journalists are in touch with their communities and that their local news media perform well at several aspects of their jobs, such as reporting the news accurately.
• At the same time, a relatively small share of Americans (15%) say they have paid for local news in the last year. And many seem unaware of the major financial challenges facing local news: A 63% majority (albeit a smaller majority than in 2018) say they think their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well financially.
• Majorities of both major parties say local media in their area are doing their jobs well. While Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are slightly less positive than Democrats and Democratic leaners in their opinions of local media, views of local news don’t have the same stark political divides that exist within Americans’ opinions about national media .
• Most Americans say local journalists should remain neutral on issues in their community, but a substantial minority say local journalists should take a more active role. About three-in-ten say local journalists should advocate for change in their communities, a view that’s especially common among Democrats and younger adults.

These are some of the key findings from a new Pew Research Center survey of about 5,000 U.S. adults conducted in January 2024. This is the first in a series of Pew Research Center reports on local news from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Americans largely hold positive views of local news organizations

At a time when many local news outlets are struggling and Americans’ trust in the news media has waned, the vast majority of U.S. adults (85%) say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community. This includes 44% who say local journalism is extremely or very important to their community

About seven-in-ten U.S. adults (69%) say that local journalists in their area are mostly in touch with their community, up from 63% who said this in 2018. And most Americans also say their local news organizations are doing well at four key roles:

• Reporting news accurately (71%)
• Covering the most important stories (68%)
• Being transparent (63%)
• Keeping an eye on local political leaders (61%).

These are relatively positive views compared with how Americans see news organizations more broadly. For instance, a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that fewer than half of U.S. adults say that news organizations in general do a very or somewhat good job of covering the most important stories, reporting the news accurately and serving as a watchdog over elected leaders.

What’s more, views toward local news are not as politically polarized as Americans’ opinions about the news media overall. While Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are not quite as positive as Democrats and Democratic leaners in some of their assessments of local journalists, most Republicans still say the local media in their area are doing their jobs well.

For example, roughly three-quarters of Democrats (78%) say their local media do well at reporting news accurately, compared with about two-thirds of Republicans (66%).

By comparison, the 2022 survey found that 51% of Democrats and just 17% of Republicans say that news organizations in general do a very or somewhat good job of reporting the news accurately.

Jump to more information on views toward local news organizations.

Fewer Americans are closely following local news – and other types of news

Despite these positive views toward local news organizations, there are signs that Americans are engaging less with local journalism than they used to.

The share of Americans who say they follow local news very closely has fallen by 15 percentage points since 2016 (from 37% to 22%). Most U.S. adults still say they follow local news at least somewhat closely (66%), but this figure also has dropped in recent years.

This trend is not unique to local news – Americans’ attention to national and international news also has declined.

The local news landscape is becoming more digital

The ways in which Americans access local news are changing, reflecting an increasingly digital landscape – and matching patterns in overall news consumption habits .

Preferred pathways to local news

• Fewer people now say they prefer to get local news through a television set (32%, down from 41% who said the same in 2018).
• Americans are now more likely to say they prefer to get local news online, either through news websites (26%) or social media (23%). Both of these numbers have increased in recent years.
• Smaller shares prefer getting their local news from a print newspaper or on the radio (9% each).

Specific sources for local news

The types of sources (e.g., outlets or organizations) Americans are turning to are changing as well:

• While local television stations are still the most common source of local news beyond friends, family and neighbors, the share who often or sometimes get news there has declined from 70% to 64% in recent years.
• Online forums, such as Facebook groups or the Nextdoor app, have become a more common destination for local news: 52% of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get local news from these types of forums, up 14 percentage points from 2018. This is on par with the percentage who get local news at least sometimes from local radio stations.
• Meanwhile, a third of Americans say they at least sometimes get local news from a daily newspaper, regardless of whether it is accessed via print, online or through a social media website – down 10 points from 2018. The share of Americans who get local news from newspapers is now roughly on par with the share who get local news from local government agencies (35%) or local newsletters or Listservs (31%).

Not only are fewer Americans getting local news from newspapers, but local daily newspapers are now more likely to be accessed online than in print.

• 31% of those who get news from daily newspapers do so via print, while far more (66%) do so digitally, whether through websites, apps, emails or social media posts that include content from the paper.
• In 2018, just over half of those who got news from local daily newspapers (54%) did so from print, and 43% did so via a website, app, email or social media site.

There is a similar move toward digital access for local TV stations, though local TV news is still mostly consumed through a TV set.

• In 2024, 62% of those getting news from local TV stations do so through a television, compared with 37% who do so through one of the digital pathways.
• An even bigger majority of local TV news consumers (76%) got that news through a TV set in 2018.

Jump to more information on how people access local news.

The financial state of local news

The turmoil for the local news industry in recent years has come with major financial challenges. Circulation and advertising revenue for newspapers have seen sharp declines in the last decade, according to our analysis of industry data , and other researchers have documented that thousands of newspapers have stopped publishing in the last two decades. There also is evidence of audience decline for local TV news stations, although advertising revenue on local TV has been more stable.

When asked about the financial state of the news outlets in their community, a majority of Americans (63%) say they think their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well, with a third saying that they’re not doing too well or not doing well at all. This is a slightly more pessimistic view than in 2018, when 71% said their local outlets were doing well, though it is still a relatively positive assessment of the financial state of the industry.

Just 15% of Americans say they have paid or given money to any local news source in the past year – a number that has not changed much since 2018. The survey also asked Americans who did not pay for news in the past year the main reason why not. The most common explanation is that people don’t pay because they can find plenty of free local news, although young adults are more inclined to say they just aren’t interested enough in local news to pay for it.

Jump to more information on how people view the financial state of local news.

Other key findings in this report

Americans get local news about a wide variety of topics. Two-thirds or more of U.S. adults at least sometimes get news about local weather, crime, government and politics, and traffic and transportation, while smaller shares (but still at least half) say they get local news about arts and culture, the economy, schools, and sports.

Relatively few Americans are highly satisfied with the coverage they see of many topics. The survey also asked respondents who at least sometimes get each type of local news how satisfied they are with the news they get. With the exception of weather, fewer than half say they are extremely or very satisfied with the quality of the news they get about each topic. For example, about a quarter of those who consume news about their local economy (26%) say they are extremely or very satisfied with this news. Read more about different local news topics in Chapter 2.

When asked whether local journalists should remain neutral on community issues or advocate for change in the community, a majority of Americans (69%) say journalists should remain neutral, reflecting more traditional journalistic norms. However, 29% say that local journalists should be advocating for change in their communities. Younger adults are the most likely to favor advocacy by journalists: 39% of those ages 18 to 29 say that local journalists should push for change, as do 34% of those 30 to 49. Read more about Americans’ views of the role of local journalists in Chapter 4.

Americans who feel a strong sense of connection to their community are more likely to engage with local news, say that local news outlets are important to the community, and rate local media more highly overall. For example, 66% of those who say they are very attached to their community say local news outlets are extremely or very important to the well-being of their local community, compared with 46% of those who are somewhat attached and 31% of those who are not very or not at all attached to their community.

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Science journalism in South Africa: social media is helping connect with new readers

Associate professor, University of the Western Cape

Disclosure statement

Sisanda Nkoala receives funding from the National Research Foundation. The training to undertake this study was funded, in part, by the Institute of Pan African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg, where she was a Junior Fellow in 2022 - 2023.

University of Western Cape provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA.

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Science journalism is about taking complex academic research and turning it into easy-to-read content that is still accurate. Aside from informing readers through evidence-based journalism, it aims to make the wider public curious about scientific research.

This article is an example of science journalism. As a media professor I conducted a study on how social media sites like X (formerly known as Twitter) can help science communication reach new audiences in South Africa. This article is a version of that study written in a way that people other than just academics can understand.

In my study I analysed the X feeds of three South African science journalism platforms: Bhekisisa , which focuses on health news; SciBraai , which specialises in local science news; and The Conversation Africa , which carries articles written by academics from a range of disciplines that are edited by journalists.

My study’s analysis found that X offers unique advantages for communicating science. It allows interaction. It makes it possible to simplify complex information into easy-to-understand formats. And it supports multiple languages and media. This creates a more dynamic and inclusive way to share scientific knowledge.

I concluded from my findings that social media can significantly enhance the reach and understanding of African science journalism.

The challenges

Media scholars have highlighted a crucial problem in the global south. The dominance of English in science communication leads to a neglect of vital issues because it excludes the majority of the population. In South Africa, for example, only 9% of people speak English as a first language. Studies illustrate how this leaves audiences feeling there’s a lack of relevant science content available.

Added to this is the enduring legacy of colonialism that reinforces the idea of science as an exclusive activity for a select few. These historical undercurrents shape science communicators’ challenges.

Read more: How to read and learn from scientific literature, even if you're not an expert

Effective science journalism is made more complex by the need to frame scientific developments in ways that are culturally relevant to African readers. Added to this is a historical reliance on foreign sources in science news content that’s published in the global south. This undermines the development of work tailored to African contexts.

There’s no shortage of obstacles. Limited funding for science journalism and a lack of access to digital technologies in many parts of Africa pose the final hurdles to spreading reliable scientific information.

This is where social media comes in.

My study shows that in South Africa X offers a glimmer of transformation for science communication.

I chose to investigate its advantages in a real-world setting by analysing three science journalism outlets. The three platforms I chose go beyond traditional science journalism by choosing to focus on research that is relevant to African audiences. This fills a critical gap, as science news most often has a western bias.

The Conversation Africa is part of a global network of not-for-profit outlets where academics collaborate with journalists and editors to make research accessible. Content is available for any other platform to freely republish, extending its reach, as is the case with SciBraai.

Bhekisisa is an award-winning health journalism centre focused on solutions-based reporting. It combines journalistic expertise with updates on medical research and it uses multimedia formats.

SciBraai specialises in local science news and scientists. It uses a multilingual approach (the English, isiZulu and Afrikaans languages) to enhance its reach

They also focus strongly on social media. And their orientation towards using clear language and visuals, as well as incorporating a multilingual approach, is an effective way of making knowledge accessible.

For example, Bhekisisa creates graphics and multimedia formats to explain complex medical developments. These visuals act as entry points into complex topics for a diverse audience.

Read more: Five golden rules for effective science communication – perspectives from a documentary maker

For its part, SciBraai is challenging the dominance of English in science communication. It incorporates isiZulu, the most widely spoken language in South Africa, into its feed on X.

The outlets align with research that defines good science journalism. This is journalism that tries to keep the public informed about science, helps explain the implications of scientific research and supports related decision-making in a society.

Some argue that science journalism in the global south suffers from a lack of resources and a neglect of local scientific inquiry. But the practices I observed in these three outlets offer a more nuanced perspective.

It’s important to note that I wasn’t measuring how popular or successful the X accounts of these outlets are. I was interested in analysing how their use of social media aligns with the fundamental goals of science communication. To do this I downloaded all tweets from the three feeds and obtained all tweets that mention the accounts. The posts were analysed using content analysis , a research method that identifies trends and patterns in communications.

The pitfalls

My study highlights that X is not merely a broadcast tool for science journalism but can be a platform to cultivate dialogue. The ability of science communicators to respond to questions, address misconceptions and incorporate feedback from the public strengthens the trust between the scientific community and broader society. This empowers audiences to become active participants rather than passive recipients of information.

While these findings are encouraging, challenges remain in how the potential for direct audience engagement is only sometimes fully realised.

And social media comes with its own pitfalls. The spread of misinformation threatens the effectiveness of science communication efforts on X. Social media cannot replace robust investment in science journalism training, infrastructure, and widening access to technology throughout Africa.

X presents a tool for reaching audiences, not a solution. When wielded strategically, it can empower science communicators to diversify and deepen their impact.

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• Science journalism
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• The Conversation Africa
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How local journalism boosts support for fixing crumbling infrastructure

by Alison Hewitt, University of California, Los Angeles

Strong local newspapers are tied to greater support for funding dams, sewers, and other basic infrastructure vital to climate resilience, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA and Duke University.

The research is published in the journal Political Behavior .

Just a few extra paragraphs of context increased support for spending and increased voters' willingness to hold local politicians accountable for infrastructure neglect by voting them out of office, said Megan Mullin, a UCLA political scientist focused on environmental politics.

Mullin said, "Empty newsrooms and AI reporting don't provide communities with the information they need to make investments for their own health and security. Local news reporting builds public support for infrastructure investments. Heat, floods, drought and fire are putting new stress on aging and deteriorating infrastructure, which must be maintained to protect communities against these growing climate risks. Our study shows that investing in facilities that improve our resilience to climate hazards requires investing in the health of local news.

"We saw more support for infrastructure spending when people read news coverage that provided context about infrastructure neglect and its consequences. With fewer reporters staffing newsrooms, the depth of reporting on invisible infrastructure declines."

Journal information: Political Behavior

Provided by University of California, Los Angeles

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With a world class faculty and up-to-date production facilities, Hunter College’s Department of Film & Media Studies offers two undergraduate programs of study and an MFA degree in Integrated Media Arts. [more...]

Journalism student Andrew Balaban wins the 2024 Pulitzer Reporting Fellowship

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Detroit News reporter named 2024-25 Knight-Wallace journalism fellow

Detroit News reporter Sarah Rahal on Wednesday was named a Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow, a prestigious program based at the University of Michigan offering time and resources for accomplished journalists around the world to pursue journalism projects.

Rahal, who covers Detroit and is part of the newspaper's investigations team, will be among a class of 18 journalists from nine countries and the U.S. who will leave their newsrooms for the 2024-25 academic year to audit UM classes and participate in weekly seminars with journalism leaders and innovators, scholars and others while working on their projects.

Rahal, 29, plans to research the challenges and successes that municipalities face as they support refugees and asylum seekers. She will also research the impact of growing refugee communities on local politics, economics and culture. She's among the youngest to be selected for the fellowship.

"We're thrilled that Sarah has been named a Knight-Wallace Fellow," said Gary Miles, Detroit News editor and publisher. "Not only does it mean she'll have time and resources to explore critical and challenging issues in depth, but she'll also be bringing that knowledge back to the newsroom and to the readers of The News."

Michigan is suffering as the 49th worst for population growth nationally, according to the Grow Michigan Together Council appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Rahal said. The task force looked only slightly into how immigration could be a potential solution.

"I hope to take that one step further and see where migrants currently fall through the cracks, how the state can proactively get ahead of overwhelming shelters by seeking out solutions journalism from other places that are mitigating impact," said Rahal, a Wayne State University alumna and the Michigan chapter president of the Asian American Journalists Association, a national nonprofit working towards improving newsroom diversity and funding minority student scholarships.

Rahal's work around the issue has included stories such as refugees and asylum-seekers overwhelming Michigan shelters , challenges  migrants faced during the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan jails , how just 1.3% of Michigan's border patrol arrests are related to illegal border crossings, how Michigan is becoming a safe haven for Congolese refugees and the Iraqi detainee crisis led to the death of Shelby Township man.

Now in its 51st year, the Knight-Wallace Fellowship program is funded through endowment gifts from foundations, news organizations and individuals committed to journalism’s role in fostering an informed and engaged public. It is based at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary, near UM's campus.

“We’re honored to introduce the newest cohort of Knight-Wallace Fellows, whose expertise spans a diverse array of critical topics,” said Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House. “Their projects will delve into pressing issues such as protecting vulnerable sources, navigating the implications of technological advancements and supporting reporters in hostile environments. Through their collaborative, cross-disciplinary efforts, they’re poised to make a profound impact not only within journalism but also in the communities they serve.”

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