1. www.donsbach.net The Public Image of Journalists Wolfgang Donsbach Communication Research Center at Boston University November 12, 2009

2. www.donsbach.net Reasons to Deal With the Public Image of Journalists

3. www.donsbach.net Commercia- lization Inflation of media Allegations of bias and negativity Media scandals Vanishing identity of journalism Current stress on journalists‘ public image Decreasing trust and esteem

4. www.donsbach.net …and it shows in surveys: Confidence in the press on the decline Press All other institutions

5. www.donsbach.net Germany: Slow but steady decline of trust

6. www.donsbach.net  Representative survey of the German population  1,054 citizens of 18 years and older  RDD  Split-ballot  Field time: November 2007 until January 2008 Methodological Details of Our Survey

7. www.donsbach.net Low esteem, low trust - and far away from the true professions Source: Donsbach et al. 2009

8. www.donsbach.net Lowest trust among the younger Source: Donsbach et al. 2009

9. www.donsbach.net What are the reasons? 4 x Content / 1 x Structural

10. www.donsbach.net 1. Too powerful

11. www.donsbach.net Journalists more powerful than politicians

12. www.donsbach.net Goals and values: Discrepancy between public's expectations and evaluations Too little Too much

13. www.donsbach.net Impartiality vs subjectivity Expect?Most journalists? Impartial report Subjective report

14. www.donsbach.net 2. Too unethical

15. www.donsbach.net Protection of privacy vs a scoop Not acceptable Happens often

16. www.donsbach.net 3. Too corrupt

17. www.donsbach.net Independence vs gratification Acceptable? Happens? No! often

18. www.donsbach.net Independence vs revenues

19. www.donsbach.net 4. Too much tabloidization

20. www.donsbach.net Hard vs soft news? Acceptable? Happens? No! often

21. www.donsbach.net Summary: What Content Features Drive Public Image of Journalists?

22. www.donsbach.net The public‘s expectation and evaluation concerning news quality

23. www.donsbach.net (rather trust journalists as percentage) fulfillment of expectation non-fulfillment of expectation sign.χ2 Example case objectivity II42373.34 Example case moral considerations II 35 3.34 Example case soft versus hard news II 33382.52 Example case privacy issues I37341.71 Example case economic independence II 4231*6.19 * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001 Discrepancy expectations/perceptions of behavior in news sitiuations  Trust

24. www.donsbach.net (rather esteem journalists as percentage) fulfillment of expectation non-fulfillment of expectation sign.χ2 Example case objectivity I65582.87 Example case moral considerations I 6859*8.50 Example case soft versus hard news I 64596.27 Example case privacy issues I6859*8.50 Example case economic independence I 6857**9.34 * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001 Discrepancy expectations/perceptions of behavior in news situations  Esteem

25. www.donsbach.net 5. The Structural Reason: Fading Identity

26. www.donsbach.net Donsbach et al. 2009 Who is a journalist?

27. www.donsbach.net Fading coordinates: definition by age

28. www.donsbach.net Source: Who is a journalist?

29. www.donsbach.net

30. Fading Coordinates: Website Traffic – Changes 2006-2007 Large City Newspapers Mid-size City Dailies News Aggregators Bloggers Joan Shorenstein Center for the Press, Politics, and Public Policy (2007): Creative Destruction: An Exploratory Look at News on the Internet. Cambridge: Harvard University

31. www.donsbach.net Finally: What then IS journalism?

32. www.donsbach.net The three traditions of journalism Donsbach 2009 Defines professional journalism

33. www.donsbach.net “Journalism is a constellation of practices that have acquired special status within the larger domain of communication through a long history that separated out news-sharing from its origins in interpersonal communication. Telling others about events in one’s social and physical surroundings is a common everyday activity in human cultures…A main difficulty for sharing intelligence is ascertaining truth, or, put the other way round, distinguishing intelligence from gossip” Barnhurst and Owens (2008: 2557) Public service function: Distinguishing between evidence and gossip News = more than personal communication Society needs institution that assesses truth and relevance

34. www.donsbach.net Is it all collapsing into the commercial function? Donsbach 2009

35. www.donsbach.net Sridhar, Thorson & Mantrala 2009 Investment in editorial quality pays off

36. www.donsbach.net Basis: Data of ca. 300 papers in the US, Source: Inland Press Association Revenue losses as a consequence of cutbacks Sridhar, Thorson & Mantrala 2009

37. www.donsbach.net Quality  Credibility  Financial Success Basis: Data from 26 Knight-Ridder papers Size of Market (Logarithm) Credibility of Newspaper (measured through surveys) Stability of Circulation 1995-2000 -0,046 +0,448 Meyer, Philip (2004): The Influence Model an Newspaper Business. NRJ 25, No.1, 66-83

38. www.donsbach.net  Credibility problem of journalism jeopardizes social capital  What do do?  Actively propagate the function and identity of journalism…  …in journalism education  …in schools  …in public campaigns  Re-consider professionalization of journalists  best practice in exchange for…  …protection from unprofessional influences  Journalism as the new knowledge profession (Gregorian) The crisis of journalism as chance