The news expectation predicament: Comparing and explaining what audiences expect from the roles and reporting practices of reporters on right-wing extremism

Abstract

News about right-wing extremism pertains to the media’s information and watchdog functions in democratic societies. Since audience orientation is important to the journalistic profession, it is important to know what different news audiences expect of journalists regarding their professional role and their reporting practices when it comes to media coverage of right-wing extremism. To bridge this research gap, by employing a quota sample representative of the general German population (n = 1314) and an independent sample of Muslims living in Germany (n = 248), we demonstrated that Muslims expect a more active role from journalists and even accept controversial reporting practices to combat right-wing extremism. More left-leaning individuals were found to expect more controversial reporting unless they were afraid of right-wing extremism. Among these more left individuals, fear of terrorism seems to activate the argument that a democratic society should not give up its core principles, including the professional autonomy of its journalists and ethical reporting practices.