ABSTRACT
This chapter maps out general differences and similarities in journalistic role performance—specifically in relation to the presence of the interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, infotainment, and civic roles—across the press of the 18 countries analyzed in this book. Our data offer compelling evidence about the multilayered hybridization of journalistic cultures at the performative level, showing that the presence of professional roles in the news is heterogeneous, fluid, and dynamic. We found that journalistic cultures display theoretically contrasting roles more than previous media system and role conception research suggests, thereby challenging several past assumptions and findings. Specifically, our results show different nuances and co-occurrences in the ways in which journalists perform different roles in the news.
