Journalists’ contributions to political life in Switzerland: Professional role conceptions and perceptions of role enactment

Abstract

Despite shifts in the news ecology, many journalists in Western democracies still aspire to function as contributors and informants of political life. This study investigates how these journalistic roles unfold in a political system that grants its citizens rather high political power. Based on survey data of 121 Swiss newspaper journalists, we study journalists’ role conceptions and perceptions of role enactment related to the domain of political life. In addition, we explore how characteristics of the media organization and the media system influence their perceptions. The results revealed five role types related to journalists’ news-gathering processes of politics and intended effects on their audiences: ‘advocating watchdog’, ‘monitoring watchdog’, ‘adversarial analyst’, ‘educating disseminator’, and ‘mediating analyst’. These results are discussed in regard to journalists’ role conceptions and perceptions of role enactment that depend on the social system as well as organizational and demographic factors.