Journalistikkens demokratiske orientering

This paper presents an empirical study of the relation between journalism and democracy. The study applies a nuanced approach with different dimensions of democracy and different stages of journalism to research the views of journalists and citizens on the democratic role of journalism. The study applies qualitative and quantitative interviews with producers and consumers of journalism of local and regional media in the case of Denmark to measure the democratic roles of journalism. The results show that the profession of journalism tends not to be determined by larger views of any or all four democratic dimensions, while journalism, according to consumers, rank in the following order: service, competitive, participatory and deliberative. This study adds the democracy related functions of journalism to the growing literature on journalistic roles.