Keeping Up With the Audiences: Journalistic Role Expectations in Singapore

Abstract

Scholarly work on journalistic role conceptions is growing, but the assumption that what journalists conceive of as their roles depends in part on what they believe audiences expect from them remains underexplored. Through a nationally representative survey (N = 1,200), this study sought to understand journalistic role expectations in Singapore, a country with a unique media system that brings together a highly developed information and communication infrastructure with media regulation. The study found that Singaporeans expect their journalists to serve the public, the nation, and the government—and in that order.