The impact of local culture on journalistic roles and practices: Evidence from the Pacific Islands

Abstract

Scholarship into the role that culture plays in journalistic role orientations and practices remains scarce, despite a small increase in recent years. Drawing on the concepts of journalistic embeddedness, cultural values and journalistic roles, this paper examines the extent to which a local cultural role perception and culturally specific journalistic practices can be identified. Reporting results of a survey of Pacific Islands journalists, we find that journalists strongly support a role that places emphasis on reflecting, defending, and preserving traditional customs and values, more so than other roles. This role, as well as specific cultural journalistic practices, is explained in large part by conservation values and peculiarities in the small and micro media systems of the Pacific. The results suggest that journalists are highly embedded within their respective communities, contributing to our conceptual understanding of culture in journalistic roles and practices.