WJS1: 2007–2011 (pilot study)

Journalism cultures, influences and trust

Originally planned as a pilot project and fielded in 2007–2011, the Study’s initiators carried out interviews with 2100 journalists from more than 400 news organizations in 21 countries. This first project had focused on differences in journalism cultures (the role perceptions, epistemological orientations and ethical views of journalists), as well as on perceived influences on the news and journalists’ trust in public institutions.

The study’s findings and conceptual background are published in various academic journals, including the Journal of CommunicationCommunication TheoryInternational Communication GazetteInternational Journal of Press/PoliticsJournalism & Mass Communication QuarterlyMass Communication & Society, and Journalism Studies. On the basis of our findings we were, for instance, able to identify four global professional milieus of journalists that exist almost everywhere in the world: the populist disseminator, detached watchdog, critical change agent, and the opportunist facilitator (see Figure).

A number of tables with country scores on selected key variables are available for download here.