Open Access

Nordic journalists’ conceptual roles and perceived influencesA European and inter-Nordic comparison

Jan Fredrik Hovden
Jan Fredrik Hovden
 and 
Jari Väliverronen
Jari Väliverronen
   | May 13, 2021
Nordicom Review's Cover Image
About this article
Previous Article
Next Article
Cite
Published Online: May 13, 2021
Page range: 141 - 161
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0034
Keywords
© 2021 Jan Fredrik Hovden et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Indexes for perceived roles and influences for European journalistsComments: Bertin graph with country means for perceived roles and influences. 18 countries, N = 10,254. Black categories are above-average for the variable.Source: Authors
Indexes for perceived roles and influences for European journalistsComments: Bertin graph with country means for perceived roles and influences. 18 countries, N = 10,254. Black categories are above-average for the variable.Source: Authors

Figure 2

Perceived roles and influences (European variations)Comments: Map of the variations in perceived roles and influences among journalists in 18 European countries. Principal component analysis, Axis 1–2. Active and passive categories. Non-European liberal countries added for reference.Source: Authors
Perceived roles and influences (European variations)Comments: Map of the variations in perceived roles and influences among journalists in 18 European countries. Principal component analysis, Axis 1–2. Active and passive categories. Non-European liberal countries added for reference.Source: Authors

Figure 3

Media systems and perceived roles and influencesComments: The figure shows the relative placement and spread of journalists from different media systems in the space of European differences in perceived roles and influences. Principal component analysis, axes 1–2: Concentration and confidence ellipses for Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) media systems; Eastern Europe added for reference. The five small confidence ellipses show the uncertainty in the different media systems’ positions. These ellipses’ separation indicates their significantly different positions on the plane. The five big concentration ellipses show individuals’ spread. A normally shaped cloud contains 86% of the individuals in a category.Source: Authors
Media systems and perceived roles and influencesComments: The figure shows the relative placement and spread of journalists from different media systems in the space of European differences in perceived roles and influences. Principal component analysis, axes 1–2: Concentration and confidence ellipses for Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) media systems; Eastern Europe added for reference. The five small confidence ellipses show the uncertainty in the different media systems’ positions. These ellipses’ separation indicates their significantly different positions on the plane. The five big concentration ellipses show individuals’ spread. A normally shaped cloud contains 86% of the individuals in a category.Source: Authors

Figure 4

Perceived roles and influences (Nordic variations)Comments: Map of the variations in perceived roles and influences among journalists in the Nordic countries.Principal component analysis, Axis 1–2. Active and passive categories.Source: Authors
Perceived roles and influences (Nordic variations)Comments: Map of the variations in perceived roles and influences among journalists in the Nordic countries.Principal component analysis, Axis 1–2. Active and passive categories.Source: Authors

Figure 5

Nordic differencesComments: The figure shows the relative placement and spread of the five countries’ journalists in the Nordic plane of perceived roles and influences. Principal component analysis, axes 1–2: Concentration and confidence ellipses.Five Nordic countries, N = 3,246.Source: Authors
Nordic differencesComments: The figure shows the relative placement and spread of the five countries’ journalists in the Nordic plane of perceived roles and influences. Principal component analysis, axes 1–2: Concentration and confidence ellipses.Five Nordic countries, N = 3,246.Source: Authors

Principal component analysis of journalists in 18 European countries

Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalue 6.38 4.69 2.77 2.37
% of explained variance 14.9 10.9 6.4 5.5
Cumulated % 14.9 25.8 32.2 37.8
% of contribution to axes
Roles 51.5 61.0 66.0 45.8
Influences 48.5 39.0 34.0 54.2
Correlation with indexes
Monitorial 0.57 −0.70 −0.11 −0.05
Interventionist 0.68 −0.31 0.42 −0.01
Collaborative 0.48 0.07 0.50 −0.13
Populist 0.26 0.35 0.44 0.48
Political 0.61 0.30 −0.24 −0.54
Organisational 0.49 0.40 −0.10 0.14
Procedural 0.46 0.05 −0.49 0.33
Economic 0.44 0.50 0.08 0.19
Personal 0.39 0.37 −0.18 0.10
Autonomy −0.04 −0.16 0.05 0.16

Nordic WJS sample methodology

Country Year of data collection Sample Method Number of respondents Response rate (%)
Denmark 2015 All members of Journalism Union Online 1,362 19
Finland 2013 Stratified sample (media type and geographical location) of all journalists Mixed (phone & email) 366 50–55
Iceland 2012 The whole population of journalists Mixed (face-to-face & online) 187 53
Norway 2013 All members of Union of Journalists and Union of Editors Online 656 36
Sweden 2013–14 Members of online Journalist Panel Online 675 36

Principal component analysis of Nordic journalists

Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalue 5.63 4.03 3.01 2.59
% of explained variance 13.1 9.4 7.0 6.0
Cumulated % 13.1 22.5 29.5 35.6
% of contribution to axes
Roles 69.6 42.4 78.2 56.4
Influences 30.4 57.6 21.8 43.6
Correlation with indexes
Monitorial −0.72 0.53 −0.18 0.10
Interventionist −0.67 0.14 0.53 −0.13
Collaborative −0.32 −0.11 0.52 −0.06
Populist −0.16 −0.41 0.14 −0.62
Political −0.53 −0.44 −0.13 0.53
Organisational −0.37 −0.37 −0.01 0.00
Procedural −0.34 −0.26 −0.42 −0.22
Economic −0.31 −0.44 0.10 −0.15
Personal −0.28 −0.51 −0.12 0.02
Autonomy 0.04 0.13 −0.12 −0.15

Selected characteristics of Nordic journalists

Iceland Norway Finland Sweden Denmark Total
Reach
Local 2 27 13 27 10 16
Regional 6 22 27 32 20 23
National 91 51 60 40 70 61
Ownership
Private 75 81 77 72 68 73
Public 25 19 23 28 32 27
Medium
Newspaper 64 60 49 59 50 55
Magazine 3 12 27 14 20 18
Broadcasting 32 28 24 27 29 28
Online outlet or standalone 3 2 1 0 8 4
Beat
Generalist 72 65 52 38 59 56
News/current affairs 1 1 11 0 1 2
Politics 7 6 6 25 11 12
Economy 5 3 3 6 4 4
Crime and law 0 1 1 3 1 1
Culture 3 9 5 6 5 6
Sports 8 4 3 5 3 4
Health 0 4 2 0 3 2
Entertainment 0 2 1 2 1 1
Other 5 6 16 16 11 11
Full-time, part-time, or freelance
Full-time 90 73 78 74 71 74
Part-time 5 5 4 7 5 5
Freelance 5 23 18 18 23 21
Editorial rank
Senior/executive manager 16 11 7 4 6 7
Junior manager 15 6 20 18 23 18
Rank-and-file 69 83 73 78 71 75
Experience
Less than 5 years 24 15 7 2 12 10
5 years or more 76 85 93 98 88 90
Age (mean) 39.6 43.3 43.4 51.3 45.9 44.7
Gender
Female 35 50 55 46 43 46
Male 65 50 45 54 57 54
Educational level
High school 21 8 12 13 6 9
Bachelor 47 67 27 52 65 57
Master’s or higher 32 25 61 35 29 34
Educational specialisation
Journalism 22 48 45 61 78 63
Other communication 9 17 11 7 9 10
Both 1 8 8 10 0 4
Neither 68 28 37 22 13 23
eISSN:
2001-5119
Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
2 times per year
Journal Subjects:
Social Sciences, Communication Science, Mass Communication, Public and Political Communication
Journal RSS Feed