Detached disseminator, populist watchdog and facilitative change agent

The professional role perception of foreign correspondents in China

Bibliographic Data

ID7478530
AuthorsYuan Zeng (0000-0002-9710-6543, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Xi’an International Studies University, China, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume19
Issue9-10
Pages1397-1416
Publication date2017-08-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1464884917724055
OpenAlexW2747297004
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited46

Amidst the debate over a ‘global journalistic culture’, this study, drawing on Hallin and Mancini’s typology of media systems and Hanitzsch’s deconstruction of journalistic role perception, looks into how foreign correspondents in China perceive their professional roles, and how their role perceptions differ across different media systems. Based on a survey analysis of 101 journalists, the study identifies three role types among China correspondents: detached disseminator, populist watchdog, and facilitative change agent. A majority of respondents perceive their professional role as non-facilitative and non-advocate, disputing the ‘hostile foreign forces’ allegation China usually employs to discredit foreign correspondents. No significant national variance is detected in the relative size of the three role types, and journalists from different media systems all value objectivity, neutrality, detachment, as well as a strong audience orientation, echoing the global homogenizing tendency in certain components of journalistic culture. Yet, strong national variance prevails in key dimensions, including a watchdog role for the host country, advocacy orientation and power distance with home government, largely consistent with the respective journalistic culture in each media system, suggesting that national journalistic culture still holds a strong grip on foreign correspondence

Bureaucracy · China · Neutrality · Objectivity (philosophy · Perception · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Media Studies and Communication · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Law

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