The geographic frame matters (too): How journalistic role performance varies in domestic,foreign,and mixed news

Abstract

The growing body of comparative studies on journalistic role performance has generally neglected the geographic frame of the news. Based on a content analysis of 145,817 news items published in 365 outlets (print, online, radio, and television) in 37 countries, we compare the performance of six journalistic roles in four geographic frame categories: domestic, foreign, and mixed news (domestic news with foreign involvement and foreign news with domestic involvement). Findings show that the level of the four news categories is equal for the watchdog and civic roles but varies for the others: the service role is more dominant in domestic news; the infotainment role is higher in foreign news; and the interventionist and loyal-facilitator roles are more prevalent in mixed news than in purely domestic or foreign news. These results are moderated by the level of country freedom, which facilitates or constrains the journalists’ performance of the various roles in these news categories. Thus, our study connects the geographic frame to the political contexts of reporting countries, providing a more accurate picture of how journalistic role performance varies in the four news categories. The discussion presents possible explanations for, and theoretical implications of, the findings.