Negotiating Journalism: The (In)congruences of Role Expectations and Evaluation of Media Performance Between Audiences and News Professionals in Chile

Abstract

Based on an online survey with 330 Chilean journalists and 4,615 media users, this study examines the discrepancies between the expectations of Chilean audiences and news professionals regarding journalistic roles and their evaluation of media performance. The findings reveal that audiences place greater importance on the disseminator and public service–oriented roles, while journalists prioritize roles aimed at influencing the public. Regarding media performance, audiences believe that journalism favors industry-oriented roles over those they prioritize. In contrast, journalists believe that the media mostly perform roles aligned with the audience’s expectations. Our results also show that although the watchdog and disseminator roles are strong predictors of quality journalism for both groups, the civic role only impacts quality journalism in the case of news professionals. Instead, audiences associate good journalism with practices that address their everyday problems, such as the ones represented by the service role.