Mission vs. Money

Professional Values and Attitudes of Public and Commercial Media Journalists in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID12909628
AuthorsStan Jastrzebski (0000-0001-7220-529X, Syracuse University, corresponding author), Lars Willnat (0000-0002-4965-2902, Syracuse University)
Year2023
Volume19
Issue8
Pages1703-1725
Publication date2023-11-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2023.2282081
OpenAlexW4388636901
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited44

This study compares the demographics, professional values, and attitudes of public and commercial journalists in the United States. Based on survey interviews with representative samples of 394 public broadcasting journalists and 1,491 commercial journalists, the study finds significant differences in demographics, attitudes, and role perceptions between the two groups. Public media journalists, who tend to be younger, more politically left-leaning, more racially diverse, and work in more gender-balanced newsrooms than their commercial colleagues, appear more mission-driven and prefer to tell complex, interpretive stories to help the public take action. By contrast, commercial journalists prize publishing quickly to the broadest possible audience while showing less interest in influencing public affairs

Broadcasting (networking · Demographics · Journalism · Media studies · Perception · Political science · Project commissioning · Public broadcasting · Public relations · Publishing · Sociology · Work (physics · Engineering · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOI