Performance of journalistic professional roles in digital native media news in Spain: Toward a journalistic micro-culture of its own

Abstract

On the basis of the argument that media platforms generate journalistic micro-cultures and that the nature of journalistic roles is contextual, the possible existence of a journalistic model of digital native media coherent with its own professional culture is addressed. Through a content analysis of a sample of 2,729 news items published in four Spanish digital native media, the presence of six professional roles (interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, infotainment, and civic) is measured and compared with the implementation of these roles in news items published in press, radio, and television (N = 3,362). In addition, the factors that influence the presence of each role in the news of the selected digital native media are analyzed. The results show that digital native media distinguish themselves by putting into practice all the journalistic roles, except for the civic one, to a greater extent than other platforms. Likewise, the service role presents similar levels of presence in the four newspapers analyzed, indicating an approach to audiences more as customers than as citizens. In terms of the factors associated with the presence of each role, we found that the subject matter of the news item has a greater predictive capacity in all roles than other elements. Although we cannot confirm the existence of a journalistic micro-culture, we do find some particularities of the digital native media, mainly stemming from the need to build audience loyalty.