Between the expected and the experienced

Assessing the public’s perception of journalism ethics and objectivity in Latvia

Bibliographic Data

ID22093071
AuthorsAnda Rožukalne (0000-0001-5474-4222, Riga Stradiņš University, corresponding author), Ieva Strode (0000-0001-9826-0473, University of Latvia)
Year2025
Volume10
Publication date2025-07-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2297-900X • E-ISSN: 2297-900X
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fcomm.2025.1521816
OpenAlexW4412583725
LanguageEN
References cited75

Introduction Our study refers to the calls of various scholars to add the media users’ view and the audience’s agency role to the evaluation of media and journalism. The objective of this study is to explore the audience’s perception of media and journalistic ethics in times of various global and geopolitical crises. Methods We use a quantitative survey ( N = 1,019, 2022) and two focus group studies (14 groups, N = 80, 2022, 2023) to describe the Latvian audiences’ assessment of professional journalism ethics principles and their implementation. Results The Latvian public is critical of the ethical practice of journalists, with almost half of the respondents observing various violations of professional ethics and recognizing different journalistic cultures according to their degree of responsibility. Discussion Evaluating data according to the journalistic ethical orientation model, it is found that representatives of the Latvian media audience support absolutist and exceptionist approaches, as they place high demands on journalists, putting the principle of objectivity and the duty of journalists to ensure the diversity of opinions in the foreground

Epistemology · Journalism · Media studies · Perception · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Philosophy · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social Media and Politics

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Open DOIOpen Access