South Korean journalists’ role conceptions and problematic reporting practices and behaviors

Abstract

This study explores how South Korean journalists’ conceptions of their professional roles are associated with problematic reporting practices and unethical behaviors. Regarding the problematic reporting practices, the study examined eleven ethically controversial practices, such as “getting employed to gain inside information,” “paying people for confidential information,” and “claiming to be someone else.” In response to unethical behaviors, conflicts of interest (political and commercial), plagiarism, and freebies were also investigated. Based on an online survey of 751 Korean journalists, the results of this study show three distinct conceptions of their roles: Populist-Mobilizer, Adversarial, and Interpretive-Disseminator. The findings indicate that the Populist-Mobilizer role conception was significantly and negatively associated with their tolerance for two types of ethically controversial practices, such as “getting employed to gain inside information” and “using hidden cameras.” The Interpretive-Disseminator role was significantly and negatively associated with “paying for confidential information.” This study also found a negative correlation between journalistic role conceptions and unethical behaviors. Specifically, Populist-Mobilizer was negatively related to political and commercial conflicts of interest, whereas Adversarial had a negative relationship with commercial conflicts of interest and plagiarism.