"The top six roles, all with means above 4.5 and standard deviations below 1, for Botswana journalists, were a mix of those aligned with a liberal press (e.g., report things as they are) and those relevant to development journalism (e.g., support national development). “Report things as they are
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(mean=4.80) and “Educate the audience” (mean=4.70) were the top two roles for these journalists (see Table 1) with 96.2 percent and 94.1 percent of the journalists respectively saying that they considered these roles “extremely” or “very” important. The least important roles, both with means below the midpoint of three, were “Be an adversary of government” (mean=2.62) and “Convey a positive image of political leadership” (mean=2.40); these journalists did not want to take a seriously adversarial stance with government but neither did they want to convey a positive image of political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, the vast majority of journalists in Mexico found it extremely or very important to report things as they are, followed in second place by the role of promoting tolerance and cultural diversity, and the role of advocating for social change in third pla
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ce. The fourth role to which Mexican journalist gave top importance in a most (5) to least (1) scale was to let people express their views, followed by the role of monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders in fifth place. The top roles show a rich mixture of adherence: from the classic Western roles of dissemination (reporting things as they are), to the roles more associated with mobilization and promotion of positive social outcomes (promoting tolerance or advocating for social change), followed by democratic roles such as serving as forum (let people express their views) and the watchdog function of the press (monitoring political leaders). There appears to be greater consensus around the ten most-popular roles, as shown by the relatively lower standard deviations, than in the bottom ten roles. This indicates the journalists who support those roles are unusual and the values they represent are a point of contention within the corps of journalists. For example, the least prioritized role was to convey a positive image of political leaders which however had a fairly high standard deviation, followed by the role of being an adversary to the government, which ranked in penultimate place in order of priority and had the second highest standard deviation of them all. This suggests some journalists consider both roles very important while others do not at all. The support of government policy was also the third least prioritized role, followed by that of providing entertainment and relaxation in fourth place and by the role of being a detached observer of events in fifth place of low priority, but which had the highest standard deviation of them all, suggesting very little agreement on how distant should journalists be from the stories they report on." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, journalists in Qatar found it most important to influence public opinion, to advocate for social change, to support national development, to report things as they naturally are, to be a detached observer and to support government policy. About half of
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journalists in Qatar found it important to promote a positive image of political leadership, to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, and to provide entertainment and relaxation. On the other hand, the following traits were only supported by a minority of respondents: monitor and scrutinize political leaders, monitor and scrutinize business, and acting as adversary of the government." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Kosovan journalists found it most important to report things as they are, to be a detached observer, to provide analysis of current affairs, and to promote tolerance and cultural diversity. The relevance of these “classic” roles was fairly undispu
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ted among the interviewed journalists as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. Likewise, there was a strong consensus among the respondents over the little importance of supporting government policy and conveying a positive image of political leadership. Still, a majority of journalists in Kosovo found it important to provide advice, orientation and direction for daily life, to educate the audience, to tell stories about the world, and to provide information people need to make political decisions. Politically more assertive roles, on the other hand, were supported by only a minority of respondents. Following traits belong to these roles: setting the political agenda, motivate people to participate in political activity, convey a positive image of political leadership, and support government policy." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"While answering questions about their professional roles, journalists in Bangladesh preferred being assertive with social issues. An overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi journalists work to promote tolerance and cultural diversity (87.0%). They also put importance on advocacy for social change
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(79.6%), followed by letting people express their views (78.8%), providing analysis of current affairs (78.4%) and reporting things as they are (76.8%). They also prioritize political assertiveness by assigning importance and extreme importance to supporting national development (76.3%) and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders (63.2%). Journalists, however, show the least interest in supporting government policies (28.7%). They ranked roles like being an adversary of the government (28.9%) or conveying a positive image of political leadership (37.3%) the lowest. The journalists in general aim to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience (75.9%)." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Argentinian journalists found it most important to report things as they were, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to provide analysis of current affairs, and to let people express their views (see Table 1). A majority of journalists in Argen
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tina found it important to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Considering the political polarization context as it was seen in Argentina during the years when the survey was conducted, options of conveying a positive image of political leadership or being an adversary of the government were surprisingly supported by only a minority of respondents. They showed some consensus towards more politically assertive roles such as supporting government policy or setting political agenda, both roles related to partisan journalism. Regarding this popular model, half of the respondents considered important, in increasing order, setting the political agenda, motivating people to participate in political activity, influencing public opinion, supporting national development, providing information people need to make political decisions and advocating for social change." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regard to professional role orientations, South African journalists found it most important to report things as they are (92.5%), to educate the audience (86.8%), and to let people express their views (84.6%). The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalists
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as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. A majority of journalists in South Africa found it important to provide analysis of current affairs, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to tell stories about the world and to be detached observers. In this process, the majority of the journalists supported the idea of watchdog-journalism, namely to monitor and scrutinize political leaders, as well as to monitor and scrutinize business. In a world awash in media entertainment, less than half of the journalists (43.6%) thought providing entertainment and relaxation were part of their work. On the whole, the impression was gained that the journalists took their work seriously, however they did not think that they should support government policy (9.6%) or convey a positive image of political leadership (9.0%). On the other hand, only less than a third (29.6%) thought they should motivate people to participate in political activity, and less than 20 percent thought that they should set the political agenda (17.4%) or be an adversary of government (13.3%)." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Bhutanese journalists view their professional roles in very similar ways to Western journalists. The reason for this can partly be found in Bhutan’s effort to orientate its media on the media of Western democracies and therefore emphasize the “detached watchdog” role. “Report things as they
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are” (79.8%), “Be a detached observer” (73.3%) and “Provide analysis of current affairs” (73.0%) rank very highly amongst Bhutanese journalists. The “detached watchdog” role, however, is interspersed with a keen awareness of having to involve Bhutan’s population in the new form of democracy. “Let people express their views” (76.7%), “Educate the audience” (73.0%), “Provide information people need to make political decisions” (72.2%) and “Motivate people to participate in political activity” (66.7%) rank almost as highly as being a an information provider." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Hong Kong journalists treated as most important the roles of monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders, reporting things as they are, monitoring and scrutinizing businesses, providing analysis of current affairs, and letting people express their views. Given the emphasis on monitoring the power
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holders, “to be a detached observer” was treated as important only by slightly more than half of the respondents. Twelve of the 18 roles included in the questionnaire were treated as important by fewer than half of the respondents. About one-third saw the advocacy role of the press as important, and about three in ten saw setting the political agenda and motivating people to participate in politics as important. The Hong Kong journalists were least likely to see conveying a positive image of political leadership, supporting government policy, providing entertainment and relaxation, and supporting national development as important roles. However, the percentage of journalists seeing the press as an adversary of the government is also low (14.4%). It indicates that the Hong Kong journalists saw themselves as an independent watchdog without being an adversary to the power holders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Albanian journalists believe their most important professional role is reporting things as they are, being detached observers and providing the kind of news that attracts the largest audience. These functions contrast with the dominant perceived role of journalists in the early 1990s as missionarie
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s and educators of the audience (see Table 1). Journalists in Albania tend to be audience-oriented, report uninvolved according to the audience’s taste and demand and attempt to educate them remotely through entertainment and recreation. Journalists’ other attributes as “advocates for social change”, “educators of the audience” and “promoters of tolerance and cultural diversity” find broad support as well. As for critical journalism, only a few journalists think it is important to set the political agenda, to monitor and scrutinize business and political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"The differences between the most and least important roles according to Czech journalists are very big. While almost 100 percent of journalists viewed their role to “report things as they are” as very or even the most important, only 1.4 percent of interviewed journalists perceived “support o
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f government policy” to be very important. The second most important perceived journalistic role to “be a detached observer” falls in accordance with the liberal Western tradition of journalism implemented in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution as the normative ideal. Still, there was quite a strong tendency to educate the audience among the sampled Czech journalists. On the other hand, journalists did not consider it important to be an adversary of the government or to motivate others to participate in political activity. In general, we can say that Czech journalists convey a normative view of media as a place where non-distorted events are presented and information necessary for political decisions as well as for everyday life management can be exchanged." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Sudanese journalists found it most important to support national development, to be a detached observer, to advocate for social change, and to influence public opinion. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalis
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ts as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. At the same time, respondents turned out to be less keen on acting as an adversary of the government, supporting government policy, and conveying a positive image of political leadership. However, standard deviations point to a great deal of disagreement among journalists with regards to these aspects of journalistic roles. Still, a majority of journalists in Sudan found it important to let people express their views, to report things as they are, to provide analysis of current affairs, to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, to provide advice, orientation and direction for daily life, to provide information people need to make political decisions, and to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Overall, Sudanese journalists’ look fairly similar to their counterparts in other parts of the world, while at the same time, they also subscribe to some of the basic elements of development journalism." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"It is fairly informative how journalists view their roles in the Kenyan society. Kenyan journalists found it most important to report things the way they are, to educate the audience and to promote tolerance and diversity. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed jou
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rnalists as the relatively low standard deviations (s=.75, s=.77, and s=.88 respectively) indicate. It is particularly noteworthy the notion of reporting things as they are and promoting tolerance. About a decade ago, the Kenyan media was perceived to have contributed to the spate of political violence that engulfed the country. The media has strenuously struggled to shed off that perception. Further, journalists tend to see themselves as objective and therefore it is little surprising that straight reporting scored highly on the list. Other roles with a standard deviation score less than s=1.0 included letting people express their views (81.1%, s=.89) and telling stories about the world (78.9%, s=.98). Providing analysis of current affairs was considered an important role by 81.7 percent of the respondents. The other roles, in their order of percentage scores and possibly relative importance, are indicated in Table 1 below. It is instructive what Kenyan journalists considered less important roles: conveying a positive image of political leadership (31.8%) and being an adversary of the government (36.1%). Nearly all roles related to politics are at the bottom of the table. This is a unique finding, as Kenyan media is often accused of being overly political. The headlines and lead stories are often all about politics. It is noteworthy that journalism in Kenya can sometimes be fairly adversarial in relation to the government. Given the promulgation of a new constitution nearly seven years ago, with clauses protective of media freedom, there is often a boldness in Kenyan media which is unique compared to the experiences of neighboring countries.
Roles supportive of a development agenda scored somewhere in the middle of the table. This is an important and surprising perception as well. Kenya is a developing country and it would have been natural to expect that development was a default role for the media. But development-related responses scored 78.8 percent and 69.2 percent respectively. While this is still a high score, it is not among the top considerations of the media." (Journalistic roles, pages 3-4)
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"In their professional role orientations, Sierra Leonean journalists found it most important to educate the audience, let people express their views, report things as they are, support national development and advocate for social change. The respondents believe it is not their job to convey a positi
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ve image of political leadership, support government policy, and neither do they want to be an adversary of the government as shown in Table 1. Even though the journalists do not believe so much that they should be responsible to set the political agenda, they supported the role of providing the information people need to make political decisions. For many of the journalists in Sierra Leone it is important to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, provide orientation for daily life, tell stories of the world, provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience and monitor and scrutinize political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regard to professional role orientations, Ecuadorian journalists found it most important to provide analysis of current affairs, to report things as they are, to let people express their views, to educate the audience, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, and to support national develo
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pment (see Table 1). These results point to a hybridization of “classic” and “neutral” standard roles from Western journalism and other types of journalism more “engaged” with and “didactic” towards the citizen and government. Likewise, journalists attribute little importance to being a detached observer, to supporting government policy, to providing entertainment and relaxation, to conveying a positive image of political leadership, and to being an adversary of the government. However, there was not a particularly strong consensus among the respondents, as the high standard deviations indicate. These results highlight that although we could speak of a passive role of journalists in Ecuador, the civic role exercised by them and the neglect of roles associated with market orientation and power distance are clearly present." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional roles, Indonesian journalists found it most important to report things as they are, educate their audience, promote tolerance and cultural diversity, let people express their opinions and advocate for social change. Interviewed journalists also found it very important t
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o provide the kind of news that attracts large audiences and support national development; the latter role seems to be similar among journalists based on the low standard deviation. Indonesian journalists reported that the role of supporting national development is still very important. In addition, Indonesian journalists found it important to provide analysis of current affairs, provide news that helps people to make political decisions, be a detached observer, motivate people to participate in political activity and monitor and scrutinize political leaders. Nevertheless, only 10.5 percent found that it is acceptable to be an adversary to the government or to set a political agenda." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"There were three roles the Moldovan journalists felt closer: report things as they are, be a detached observer, and provide analysis of current affairs. According to the lowest standard deviation scores, these roles were top priority for most of the journalists. On the opposite site, the respondent
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s were almost entirely detached from the role to convey a positive image of political leadership. Moreover, Moldovan journalists downgraded such roles as set the political agenda, be an adversary of the government and support government policy. On the other hand, a great majority of respondents considered public education role dominant in their work, compared with the roles linked to economic and entertainment functions of mass media. Educate the audience, promote tolerance and cultural diversity and advocate for social change far exceeded such roles as provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience or provide entertainment and relaxation." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Journalists in Croatia primarily see their roles in the classical (western) "watchdog" function of providing analysis of current affairs, monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders, and business. These values are followed by public-forum roles of the media through letting people express their vi
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ews and provide information people need for making political decision. Several of the values that reach high means (4.0 and higher) might be related to the (relatively) recent democratization and the view that the media should assist in this change. This particularly relates to the belief that journalists should advocate social change, motivate people to participate in political activity, and support national development. A large number of respondents (between close to 50% to almost 70%) think that it is somewhat important that journalists influence public opinion, set the political agenda, and provide orientation and direction in daily life to their audiences. As we go down the list with the least supported statements and shares of supporters, the homogeneity of the answers also decreases, while the most highly placed values having smaller standard deviations. The minority of journalists thinks that their work entails a support of government policy or to convey a positive image of political leadership (12 and 13.2 %, respectively), and a similarly small number thinks they should take an adversarial role to the government." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"In terms of professional role orientations, Filipino journalists found it most important to report things as they are, educate the audience, and advocate for social change. Most journalists were in strong agreement in the importance of these roles, as reflected by the relatively low standard deviat
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ions. In contrast, there were significant disagreements in the roles that were ranked the least important: providing entertainment and relaxation, being an adversary of the government, supporting government policy, and conveying a positive image of political leadership. A majority of journalists in the Philippines also found it important to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, let people express their views, monitor and scrutinize political leaders, provide information people need to make political decisions, and provide analysis of current affairs." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"The top five roles, in order of importance both by mean scores and by percent who said “extremely” and “very” important, for Indian journalists, were: report things as they are (88.4%), educate the audience (85.5%), provide analysis of current affairs (84.7%), let people express their views
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(83.2%), and support national development (81.7%) (see Table 1). Interestingly, the last role in mean importance was “convey a positive image of the leadership.” “Be an adversary of the government” and “set the political agenda” tied for second last place in terms of means, followed by “support government policy.” These Indian journalists considered it only somewhat important to be directly oppositional to the government as well as to portray leaders positively. As the means decreased, in general, standard deviations increased. Thus journalists’ opinions were quite varied on the roles that were not of primary importance to them." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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