Journalistic Role Performance and Its Effects

Changes in the media and journalistic ecosystems have placed audiences in a more active position not only in terms of media and content selection but also with respect to their own participation in the creation of this content. And journalistic media increasingly make editorial decisions based on audience demands. On other hand, the essence of journalism is to fulfill key functions—to provide reliable and truthful information, to watch out for abuses by those in power, or to serve as a platform for civic demands—which citizens have internalized as normative ideals, and whose fulfillment they perceive and evaluate through news content. According to the literature on journalistic roles, this chapter proposes a roadmap to address audience expectations for the journalistic roles and the gap between these expectations and the actual journalistic roles performance. In addition, this is also associated with the distrust in media and its impact on civic engagement and the legitimacy of journalism. This may result in people avoiding the news.