Spanish journalists' perception about their professional roles

Abstract

International empirical research on the perception that journalists have of their professional roles and functions has increased considerably in recent years, although not in the case of Spain. The present research, included within the transnational comparative study "The Worlds of Journalism Study", analyses data from a survey conducted in Spain (representative and stratified by type of media and autonomous community) of 390 journalists from 117 media, who were consulted about their work to detect the professional functions they most identified with. The study establishes six roles: watchdog, citizens spokesperson, instructor of the audience, promoter of the status quo, infotainment journalist and disseminator of objective information. in line with recent political, economic and social developments in Spain, professionals feel more identified with the role of citizens spokesperson. This function downplays the predominant role of disseminator of objective information reflected in recent studies of a similar nature on the subject of Spanish journalists. A further finding of the research is the existence of two large groups of journalists: the stimulators and the "narcotizers" of public opinion. Moreover, it is observed that some organizational factors (in particular, media ownership) and other individual ones (gender, age and years of professional experience) significantly influence the perceptions of professional roles.