Page 285 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

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Political News Journalists

journalists. Other analysts have proposed other roles, including that of
“gatekeeper” and “advocate” (Janowitz 1975).
Although these typologies are suggestive, they are not overly helpful in
acomparativecontext.AllrolesfoundinoneWesternsystemarefoundin
varying degrees in all other Western systems. Typologies based on fixed
descriptive categories, such as Weaver and Wilhoit’s, cannot describe
these variations. Those typologies that are based on a continuum (e.g.,
Cohen’s neutral-participant dimension) could be employed, but each is
based on a single dimension only. Our five-country survey suggests that
two dimensions must be used to adequately describe the cross-national
variation in journalists’ roles.
One of these dimensions is a passive-active dimension and the other
is a neutral-advocate dimension. The first is based on the journalist’s
autonomy as a political actor. The passive journalist is one who acts as
the instrument of actors outside the news system, such as government
officials, party leaders, interest group advocates, or others. The key point
is that the journalist takes his or her cues from these actors, rather than
operating independently. In contrast, the active journalist is one who
is more fully a participant in his or her own right, actively shaping,
interpreting, or investigating political subjects.
The second dimension is based on the journalist’s positioning as a
political actor. The neutral journalist is one who does not take sides in
political debate, except for a preference for good (clean, honest) govern-
ment as opposed to bad (corrupt, incompetent) government. The key
point about the neutral journalist is that he or she does not routinely
and consistently take sides in partisan or policy disputes. In contrast, the
advocate journalist takes sides and does so in a consistent, substantial,
and aggressive way. These sides do not have to be those of the opposing
political parties. The journalist could act, for example, as an advocate of
a particular ideology or group.
The two dimensions are largely independent. There was virtually no
correlation (r = .01) between our passive-active and neutral-advocate
indices(eachwascreatedfromfourseparatesurveyquestions).Although
it might be assumed that an advocate role conception would be associ-
ated with an active role conception, the absence of a relationship is, by
itself, a justification for the use of a two-dimensional rather than one-
dimensional framework.
Eachofthedimensionsis,inpractice,acontinuum,butitisinstructive
to temporarily regard each dimension as having two discrete categories –
passive or active, neutral or advocate. When viewed this way, there are

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