Comparison between the professional roles of Spanish and U.S. journalists: Importance of the Media System as the Main Predictor of the Professional Roles of a Journalist

Abstract

A secondary analysis of data collected from two cross-national surveys based on a survey of U.S. journalists in 2007 (n=402) and a survey of Spanish journalists in 2011 (n=762) was conducted to compare the attitudes of U.S. and Spanish journalists about their professional roles. The results of the study were used to assess whether the media system of a country is the best predictor of the professional role of journalists. The findings showed that Spanish journalists were more likely to see themselves as mobilizers of the citizenship of their country and less likely to give importance to the function of a journalist as a disseminator of information relative to U.S. journalists. In addition, the media system of the respective countries was the most relevant predictor of the value given by journalists to the majority of journalistic functions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Se condujo un análisis secundario de datos de encuestas transversales suministradas a periodistas estadounidenses en 2007 (n=402) y periodistas españoles en 2011 (n=762) para comparar sus actitudes sobre roles profesionales, y para evaluar si el sistema de medios es su mejor predictor. Los resultados demostraron que los periodistas españoles tendieron, en mayor medida, a verse a sí mismos como mobilizadores de la ciudadanía y, en menor medida, a dar importancia a las funciones difusoras que los periodistas estadounidenses. El sistema de medios fue el predictor más influyente de la importancia dada a la mayoría de las funciones periodísticas analizadas.