The Role Perception of Eastern European Journalists. A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

This paper focuses on present-day journalism in Eastern European countries, based on 66 guideline interviews with editors and editors-in-chief in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Russia who were asked about their careers, their working conditions and their role perception. Using the concept of journalism cultures, the paper focuses on professional identities of journalists in these four countries. The main findings of the research can be synthesized in the following three main ideas: (1) there is a tendency at the cognitive level to provide informative journalism, (2) there exists a strong orientation toward the needs of the audience, and (3) the economic situation influences journalistic work. Role perceptions are related to three different generations of journalists: those integrated into professional life before 1989, those who entered the profession in the early 1990s and those who entered the profession since the mid-1990s.