Journalistic role performance in Southern European media systems: Resilience in times of disruption

Abstract

This work is grounded and inspired by studies on journalism's vulnerabilities in times of crisis, role performance, support systems and calls for collective resilience in the face of emerging/new threats to journalism practice. The study adopts a comparative approach and goes beyond what has already been examined by critically assessing resilience strategies that journalists develop to cope with professional threats that have emerged with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The study focuses on journalism practice in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Malta. Its findings indicate that in the face of this crisis, journalists showed remarkable resilience despite the lack of professional support systems as they turned to their profession's highest values to draw strength and support. The hardships they faced, both personally and professionally, did not deter them from fulfilling their roles, but fuelled them with persistence and rekindled their faith in journalism as a vocation.