Professional and Motivated:
German Journalists in the 1990s
by
Klaus Schoenbach
Professor and Director
Department of Journalism and Communication Research
University of Music and Theater
Hohenzollernstrasse 47
D-30161 Hannover
Germany
Phone: (511) 310-0480
Fax: (511) 310-0400
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Submitted to the International Communication Division for presentation at the
annual
convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication, 1996. Abstract
The first nation-wide and representative survey of German journalists
after the re-
unification of the country shows a rejuvenated, better trained and highly
motivated
journalistic workforce. More women work as journalists. A "missionary" attitude
has given
way to a more intrinsically motivated, service-oriented self-concept of German
journalism.
Simultaneously, a "bloodhound" approach to newsgathering has spread. In their
professional
attitudes and their ideas about what their roles are, journalists in East and
West Germany are
less far apart from one another than one would have expected after the division
of Germany
for more than forty years. Introduction
The decade after the mid-1980s brought about important changes to the German
media
system:
As of 1984, the exclusively public-service broadcast system in West
Germany lost its
monopoly. Commercial television and radio stations have been established
and
expanded the electronic media offer. So, for instance, approximately 250
German
radio stations are broadcasting in the mid-1990s instead of about 40 at
the beginning
of the 1980s. This increase was particularly rapid at the end of the
last decade when
terrestrial frequencies became available to the new stations which
subsequently did
not have to rely on cable alone anymore. A similar expansion of the
electronic media
offer could be found almost everywhere in the world at that time (see
Becker &
Schoenbach 1989).
The press market has also registered a dynamic development in West
Germany. Due
to less expensive publishing and printing techniques, more _ and mostly
more
specialized _ print magazines sprang up. In addition, a great number of
weekly
freesheets have been established complementing the local information
supply of daily
newspapers.
In 1990, reunification added five new states with about 16 million
people to West
Germany and introduced both freedom of expression and a market economy
to the
East German media.
These developments have certainly had an impact on journalism in
Germany. The last
time, however, that representative data had been collected at least on West
German
journalists' backgrounds, methods of work, job situations, attitudes and motives
was in
1980-81 (see, e.g., Koecher 1986). This was one of the reasons why, in 1992, the
Press and
Information Agency of the German federal government decided to fund a
representative
survey of almost 1,600 journalists in West and East Germany. Its other purpose
was to
describe the working situations of East German journalists compared to the
conditions of
their colleagues in the West two years after the reunification of Germany (see
Schneider,
Schoenbach & Stuerzebecher 1993a, 1993b, 1994).
Methodology
Due to the emphasis of the study on the social situation of journalists
in the East,
they were not simply included into a nation-wide survey. Instead, two separate
samples _
a West and an East one (the latter with a relatively greater number of
respondents) _ were
conducted (see Schoenbach 1992). In West Germany, 983 representatively selected
journalists were interviewed by telephone between July 29 and September 29,
1992. A
second telephone survey with a representative sample of 585 journalists working
in East
Germany was in the field between January 20 and February 4, 1993. Among the
respondents
in East Germany were 477 who had lived there already before the Wall came down
in 1989.
One-hundred-and-eight were "imports" from West Germany after November 1989.
Both samples were drawn from all permanently employed journalists in
newspapers,
broadcast companies, news agencies and print magazines. Among the latter, only
those
magazines were excluded that were geared toward a specific expert audience or
appeared
less than once a month or were not sold but distributed free.
As a first step of a stratified sampling procedure, we selected a
representative sample
of media enterprises. The number of persons to be interviewed in each
organization was
determined in a second step. The number of employees in each enterprise had been
gauged
by direct contacts with the employers or by using professional handbooks. In the
case of
local and regional newspapers, we made sure that up to two thirds of the
respondents
worked for the local news sections of those papers. In a last step, several
precautions were
taken to ensure a random sample of the people to be interviewed by phone in each
organization (for details see Schoenbach 1992 and Schneider, Schoenbach &
Stuerzebecher
1993a).
The _ standardized _ questionnaires of the two surveys were not only
widely
identical but also designed to be comparable with the last representative survey
of West
German journalists in 1980-81 (see Koecher 1986) and with the 1992 study of
journalists in
the United States (Weaver & Wilhoit 1992; first comparative results in Weaver,
Schoenbach
& Schneider 1993).
The social situation of journalists was a central issue in the
interviews _ particularly
in the East. So, they dealt with job security, financial situation, the
attractiveness of
professional alternatives, unemployment and its causes. In addition to this,
information about
the working situations of the respondents was collected. Journalists were asked
about their
training for the profession, about changes in their jobs, their career plans,
job satisfaction
and about their information behavior.
Finally, a focal point of the study was the professional self-image of
journalists:
What were the important functions and tasks of journalistic work for them? Which
advantages and/or disadvantages did journalists see in their profession? What
did they think
about their audience? How important was ethical behavior for them?
Basic Characteristics of Journalists
In 1992, about 30,000 permanently employed journalists (including those
still in
professional training) worked in Germany _ serving a population of almost 80
million.
Among them were 16 percent who were based in East Germany (with a population of
about
16 million). Newspapers were still the most important employers: Half of all the
journalists
in Germany as a whole, and even two thirds of those in East Germany, worked for
daily
newspapers in 1992. Radio and television followed second with almost a third (30
%) of all
journalists in West Germany permanently employed by them. The respective figure
for East
Germany, however, was only 18 percent _ due to (1) the still small number of new
(and
commercial) radio stations in that part of the country two years after the
introduction of a
market economy and to (2) the traditional seats of television stations'
headquarters. Most of
these stations still serve a national audience instead of a regional one (there
were no local
East German TV or radio stations at all in 1993) and broadcast from the West
(Table 1).
_ Table 1 about here _
Compared to the early 1980s, West German journalists were younger in
1992: 38.5
years on an average. Put differently, 61 percent of them were under 40, as
opposed to only
43 percent in 1980-81 (Koecher 1986). Some caution is in order for any
comparison with the
survey of 1980-81. Whereas large parts of the questionnaires were the same (see
above), the
sampling procedures differed to some extent, and the earlier survey was based on
face-to-
face interviews instead of telephone ones. Nevertheless, the two studies proved
to be similar
enough to allow us to point out at least tendencies (see the discussion in
Schneider,
Schoenbach & Stuerzebecher 1993a).
East German journalists in 1993 who had lived in East Germany before the
Wall
came down were even a little younger than their West German colleagues: 37.2
years. The
age bracket of the "30-somethings" was _ particularly in West Germany _ the
largest
(Table 2).
_ Table 2 about here _
Three quarters of all journalists in West Germany in 1992 were male.
This
proportion, albeit still large, was obviously smaller than in the survey of
1980-81 for which
Koecher (1985) did not even deem it worth mentioning the proportion of women.
Among
East German journalists stemming from the German Democratic Republic (GDR), we
found
less men (64 %) in 1993 than in the West. Particularly few women worked at West
German
news agencies whereas noticeably more were employed at news magazines. In East
Germany, the proportions of the female workforce were somewhat more equally
distributed
over the media (Table 3).
_ Table 3 about here _
The reason for the greater number of women in the East working as
journalists is
somewhat ambivalent: To be sure, the Communist government had always made a
point of
equal opportunities for men and women. But it also reacted out of utter need:
Women were
forced to work in order to sustain the fragile and inefficient economic system
of the GDR.
During the late 1980s, however, the number of female journalists
entering the job
market in West Germany was even relatively larger than in the East. As many as
40 percent
of the journalists in the West were female among those having been employed less
than four
years in 1992. This proportion drops to only twelve percent among those having
worked for
24 years and more in journalism. In East Germany, however, even in this
"veteran" group
of journalists, the share of women was still 33 percent in 1993, only a little
under the
average female proportion in journalism of 36 percent (Table 4).
_ Table 4 about here _
In West Germany, the income difference between men and women was
particularly
striking: 80 percent of the female journalists had a monthly net income of under
DM 4,500
in 1992, whereas only half of the men (52 %) were paid such a low salary. Put
differently,
women were, on an average, paid only about 80 percent of the salary of their
male
colleagues. In East Germany, this was somewhat different: There were not only
more female
journalists in 1993 but they were also less likely to be underprivileged in
terms of their
wages. The average gender difference in income amounted to less than ten
percent.
In terms of political attitudes, German journalists in 1992-93 liked the
Social
Democratic Party and the Greens a little more than the conservative Christian
Democrats
and the strongly market-economy oriented Free Democrats. The least sympathy _
both in
East and West Germany _ was attributed to the socialists of the PDS (Party of
Democratic
Socialism) and the "Republikaner", an extremely rightwing party. This well-known
"liberal
bias" of journalists (see the discussion in Schoenbach, Stuerzebecher &
Schneider 1994) was
considerably stronger among East German journalists who had lived in the GDR
before the
wall came down. There, even the socialist PDS got scores only a little more
negative than
the ones for the Christian Democrats (Table 5).
_ Table 5 about here _
A university degree has increasingly become important in most German
media.
Almost half (45 %) of all journalists in West Germany in 1992 had one,
considerably more
than at the beginning of the 1980s (34 %, see Koecher 1985). Almost a fifth (19
%) of all
West German journalists in 1992 had studied mass communication or journalism as
a major
or minor up from six percent in 1980-81 (Koecher 1986). For the East German
journalists stemming from the GDR, this figure was even 48 percent in 1993 due
to the
strictly regulated access to the profession under the Communist regime. The most
striking
difference between East and West, though, is the proportion of the East German
journalists
who _ in 1993 _ did not have any journalistic training at all: almost a fifth
(18 percent).
In the West, this figure was considerably lower: ten percent. All these results
apply to
women and men equally. The large share of untrained journalists in the East was
certainly
due to the "gold rush" situation of the media after the Wall had come down.
Working Conditions
Journalists have been called a particularly self-sufficient, "in-bred"
group of people
restricted even in their non-professional contacts to friends and acquaintances
involved in
journalism or the media (see, e.g., Donsbach, 1982). Our results, however, do
not support
this prejudice: In West Germany, the estimated average proportion of people
"connected in
some way with journalism or the communication field" among people one sees
socially was
only 28 percent in 1992. For East German journalists having lived in the GDR
before 1990,
this figure was virtually the same, 27 percent.
"Self-confident," "open-minded," "interested in politics,"
"well-informed," "critical,
demanding" these flattering attributes were used by the majority of German
journalists in
1992-93 for their audience. In West Germany (where we have the opportunity to
compare),
media recipients were viewed more positively than in 1980-81. In general,
younger
journalists were a little more critical than their older colleagues. But,
compared to 1980-81,
the differences between the age cohorts in West Germany have greatly decreased.
All
journalists in the West seemed to be more or less unified in the positive
evaluation of their
audience.
East German journalists who had lived in the GDR before 1989 had an even
brighter
image of their audience than their West German colleagues. Still, however, there
were some
striking differences between the two groups: More journalists in East Germany
were
convinced to work for an "insecure" audience that was also "easily influenced."
This image
obviously mirrors the problems of East Germans to find their place in a unified
Germany
with a free market economy. Also interestingly, journalists from East Germany
more
frequently assumed that their audience was "left wing" whereas those in West
Germany
more often believed that they worked for a "right wing" public. Old differences
between a
formerly Communist and a capitalist society had obviously prevailed (Table 6).
_ Table 6 about here _
German journalists seemed to enjoy their job in the early 1990s. We had
asked them:
"How satisfied are you, all in all, with your present job? Would you say 'very
satisfied,'
'fairly satisfied,' 'fairly unsatisfied,' 'very unsatisfied'?" Ninety-six
percent of the West
German and 94 percent of the East German journalists claimed to be at least
"fairly
satisfied." Another indicator of their job satisfaction was the answer to the
question "In sum:
Have you advanced in your job as far as you had imagined, or is that rather not
the case?"
Eighty-seven percent of the West German journalists and 84 of those in the East
said "yes,
I have advanced as far as I had imagined."
What was it in particular that German journalists seemed so satisfied
of? Almost half
of the West German journalists (43 %) and even a greater proportion of the East
German
ones (73 %) called their salaries "good pay." And surprisingly, more than two
fifths of the
East German journalists (42 %) believed that, of all matters, their profession
is in high
regard. In West Germany, only a tenth of our respondents said so. If one takes
into account
what the population generally thinks of journalists, the latter figure certainly
indicates more
realism. Both answers were items on a list of the "attractions" that working as
a journalist
may offer (Table 7).
_ Table 7 about here _
As in the early 1980s, there was an idealistic, "missionary"
professional orientation
aimed at stirring the audience up, enlightening it and influencing it among West
and East
German journalists in 1992-93 (see Koecher 1986). But _ common to East and West
Germany _ enjoying journalistic work as such and its possibilities to pursue
one's own
interests were more important, and, at least for West Germany, increasingly so.
The
profession is exciting and eventful; one meets interesting people; one gets
around a lot; the
job offers many liberties because one can express oneself and can choose one's
tasks
autonomously _ this is what journalists in both parts of Germany praised
frequently. Of the
"missionary" elements of the profession only "the chance to uncover and
criticize
grievances" got similarly strong agreement. Nevertheless, journalists who had
lived in East
Germany before the wall came down demonstrated more "idealism" compared to their
Western colleagues: They considerably more often liked the chances of
"championing values
and ideals" and "passing on my own convictions to many people."
A multivariate analysis of possible factors leading to a
"mission-oriented"
attractiveness of journalism revealed that only age contributed to its
importance significantly
(Schoenbach, Stuerzebecher & Schneider 1994). The older East and West German
journalists
were in 1992-93, the more often they found attractive "championing of values and
ideals",
"passing on my own convictions to many people" and "influencing political
decisions." All
the other causes for a missionary attitude discussed in the literature (for a
review see
Schoenbach, Stuerzebecher & Schneider 1994) did not play a significant role
such as
being a member of the 1968 age cohort (the one leading the student rebellion in
West
Germany), being politically leftist, being frustrated by an unsatisfactory
career or
"professionally deformed" by an academic training, particularly in journalism
and mass
communication.
Professionalism
Journalists in Germany are a well-organized professional group. In 1992,
more than
half (56 %) of the West German respondents were members of a journalists union.
In East
Germany, the figure was even higher: 69 percent.
An equally high proportion of East and West German journalists claimed
to read at
least one professional journal regularly: 72 percent in West Germany and 71 in
East
Germany. Readership was above average among men, people under 30 and again over
50
and not surprisingly among members of professional organisations: They get a
journal
as one of their membership benefits. So, it may be no surprise that only 52
percent of the
non-members in the West and 43 percent in the East cared enough to read a
professional
journal regularly.
The rank order of the professional roles which journalists most
identified with in
1992-93 was strikingly similar among the respondents in the old and new states
of Germany.
At the top of the list we find "taking up grievances," "a proponent of new
ideas," "a
guardian of democracy" and "a neutral reporter of events." Only one of the roles
offered in
our interviews the one of the "neutral reporter" was agreed on by East
German
journalists a little less frequently than by their colleagues in the West. On
the other hand,
significantly more East German editors and reporters found the role of "somebody
who
advises and helps people" appropriate. In general, there was more readiness in
the East to
play an educational role than in the West: At least one of the two items
"instructor or
educator" and "someone who exerts political influence" was mentioned by 39
percent of the
East German journalists living in the GDR before 1989 but only by 20 percent of
their West
German colleagues. Compared to 1980-81, however, at least West German
journalists were
significantly more ready to "serve" in 1992. Roles implying a service
orientation like
"somebody who entertains the public" and "mirroring what the public thinks" had
become
much more important than they were in the early 1980s (Table 8).
_ Table 8 about here _
As for the attractiveness of a "missionary" journalism (see above), age
was somewhat
important also among the possible determinants of a more "missionary"
professional role.
A multivariate analysis demonstrated that it again was the older journalists
that favored this
role a little more and in addition those who sympathized with either
extremely right
wing or left wing parties. Also as before, all the other explanations, like
being frustrated by
an unsatisfactory career or being "biased" by academic training or by "the
political climate
of 1968," did not explain why journalists called this journalistic role their
favorite one
(Schoenbach, Stuerzebecher & Schneider 1994).
There are hints that journalists at least in West Germany got softer
on ethics,
became less scrupulous professionally. The proportion of West German journalists
willing
to say that "unusual," i.e., illegitimate research methods may sometimes be
justified rose
from 1980-81 to 1992 for every one of the methods of investigation named in our
questionnaires except for one: "badgering unwilling informants to get a
story." The
increase is especially striking for methods like "using confidential business or
government
documents without authorization" and for "getting employed to gain inside
information."
One may argue that at least West German journalists had become more ready to
cheat
organizations. When a personal confrontation with individuals was involved,
however, they
agreed less often that "unusual" research techniques may be justified. East
German
journalists' readiness to break norms of information gathering was weaker for
virtually all
the illegitimate practices in 1993 (Table 9).
Table 9 about here
Legitimation of questionable research methods was definitely more
widespread among
the younger journalists in our surveys. Men and women did not differ in that
respect. What
made a difference, however, is the media organization our respondents worked
for: Both
journalists in news agencies and in commercial radio and television stations
were
significantly more often ready to justify dubious research techniques.
Conclusions
During the 1980s, journalism in West Germany experienced more
professionalization,
a considerable rejuvenation of the profession and an increase in women's
participation.
Journalists from East Germany differed from their colleagues in the West in
their socio-
democraphic structure: Editors and reporters in the East were even younger, the
proportion
of women was higher, their "liberal bias" was somewhat more distinct. And: The
share of
editors in East Germany without any prior journalistic training was considerably
greater than
in the West. Many of them had come into the profession through the back door _
perhaps
not surprisingly at a time when there were not enough professional journalists
available for
re-establishing the media in East Germany.
In their professional attitudes, however, and their ideas about what
their roles are,
journalists in East and West were less far apart from one another than one would
have
expected after the division of Germany for more than 40 years. In some cases,
the kind of
media organizations for which they worked seemed to generate greater differences
in their
opinions than an East or West German socialization.
In East Germany, journalists found their profession even more attractive
than their
already enthusiastic West German colleagues. The latter had shown significantly
more job
satisfaction in 1992 than at the beginning of the 1980s. The joys of journalism
were
obviously accompanied for them by a more favorable image of their audience _
indicating
that the reasons for job satisfaction may have changed somewhat, at least in the
West: In
1992, the "expressive" elements of the profession to be able to pass one's own
opinion
on to other people and to have a political impact retreated in favor of
intrinsic
gratifications of journalism. They manifested themselves more in the everyday
work
routines: in information gathering, writing and conveying topical information.
Also, a
service orientation increased: More journalists were ready to offer something to
the
audience, less of them wanted to stirr it up, train it or educate it. Only a
small part of the
German journalists felt legitimized to influence public opinion. Consequently,
the often
lamented self-sufficiency of journalists as a professional group could not be
found:
Journalists at least claimed to be in touch with "ordinary people."
Parallel to this growing "craftsmanship" orientation of the profession,
"bloodhound
journalism" spread _ again at least in West Germany. West German journalists
were more
willing in 1992 than a decade before to justify controversial methods of getting
information
for the sake of topical and interesting news for their audience. So, last not
least, our study
put legends to rest that had prevailed about West German journalism: The
superiority of a
"missionary" self-concept over a "bloodhound" one did not reflect the reality of
Germany
in the early 1990s. Only the East German journalists _ above all the older ones
among them
_ seemed to lag somewhat behind their West German colleagues: They still felt
more
attracted to the advocatory-educational possibilities of their job, and they
were less willing
to justify dubious methods of information-gathering. References:
Becker, Lee B., and Klaus Schoenbach (Eds.). 1989. Audience responses to media
diversification: Coping with plenty. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Donsbach, Wolfgang. 1982. Legitimationsprobleme des Journalismus:
Gesellschaftliche
Rolle der Massenmedien und berufliche Einstellung von Journalisten [Legitimation
problems
of journalism: The social role of the mass media and journalists' professional
attitude].
Freiburg, Munich: Karl Alber.
Koecher, Renate. 1985. Spuerhund und Missionar: Eine vergleichende Untersuchung
?ber
Berufsethik und Aufgabenverst,ndnis britischer und deutscher Journalisten
[Bloodhound and
missionary: A comparative study of professional ethics and role perceptions of
British and
German journalists]. Doctoral dissertation, University of Munich.
Koecher, Renate. 1986. Bloodhounds or missionaries: Role definitions of German
and
British journalists. European Journal of Communication 1: 43-64.
Schneider, Beate, Klaus Schoenbach, and Dieter Stuerzebecher. 1993a.
Westdeutsche
Journalisten im Vergleich: Jung, professionell und mit Spa an der Arbeit
[Comparing West
German journalists: Young, professional and liking their work]. Publizistik 38:
5-30
Schneider, Beate, Klaus Schoenbach, and Dieter Stuerzebecher. 1993b.
Journalisten im
vereinigten Deutschland: Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im
Ost-West-
Vergleich [Journalists in unified Germany: Structures, working conditions and
attitudes in
an East-West comparison]. Publizistik 38: 353-382.
Schneider, Beate, Klaus Schoenbach, and Dieter Stuerzebecher. 1994. Ergebnisse
einer
Repraesentativbefragung zur Struktur, sozialen Lage und zu den Einstellungen von
Journalisten in den neuen Bundesl,ndern [Results of a representative survey on
the structure,
the social situation and on the attitudes of journalists in the new states of
Germany]. In
Journalismus in den neuen L,ndern: Ein Berufsstand zwischen Aufbruch und
Abwicklung,
edited by Frank Boeckelmann, Claudia Mast, and Beate Schneider, pp. 145-230.
Konstanz,
Germany: Universitaetsverlag.
Schoenbach, Klaus. 1992. Sozialenqu^te ostdeutscher Journalisten: Das Design der
Journalistenbefragung [A social inquiry of East German journalists: The design
of the
journalists survey]. In Pressemarkt Ost, edited by Walter A. Mahle, pp. 131-196.
Munich:
Oelschlaeger.
Schoenbach, Klaus, Dieter Stuerzebecher, and Beate Schneider. 1994. Oberlehrer
und
Missionare? Das Selbstverst,ndnis deutscher Journalisten [Educators and
missionaries? The
self-concept of German journalists]. In Oeffentlichkeit, oeffentliche Meinung,
soziale
Bewegungen, edited by Friedhelm Neidhardt, pp. 139-161. Opladen: Westdeutscher
Verlag.
Weaver, David H., Klaus Schoenbach, and Beate Schneider. 1993. West German and
U.S.
journalists: Similarities and differences in the 1990s. Paper, Annual
Convention, Association
for Journalism and Mass Communication, Kansas City, August.
Weaver, David H., and G. Cleveland Willhoit. 1992. The American journalist in
the 1990s.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Table 1: Media and the Journalistic
Workforce, 1992 West Germany East
Germany Newspapers 12,374 3,241 Magazines 4,681 403 News
Agencies 789 295 Radio 4,509* 594* Television 3,153* 244* All (permanently
employed) journalists 25,506 4,777
*Approximate figures: Journalists who worked for radio and those who worked for
television
could be only imperfectly discerned. The majority of broadcast journalists in
training was
still employed by the public-service stations which _ as a tradition in Germany
_ produce
both radio and television programs under the same roof. Therefore, those who
want to enter
broadcast journalism are still trained for both media.
Table 2: Age Structure West Germany East Germany 1980-81
(N = 450)
% 1992
(N = 983)
% 1993
(N = 477)
% Under 30 years 12 19 25 30 - 39 years 31 42 36 40 - 49 years 27 22 30 50 years
and older 30 17 10 Average age of all journalists not
available 38.5 37.2
Table 3: Proportion of Women Working in Journalism West Germany, 1992
% East Germany, 1993
% Newspapers 23 (N = 493) 35 (N = 341) Magazines 35 (N = 170) 49 (N = 44) News
Agencies 19 (N = 32) 43 (N = 15) Radio 22 (N = 171) 36 (N = 59) Television 26 (N
= 117) 28 (N = 18) All journalists 25 (N = 983) 36 (N = 477)
Table 4: Proportion of Women in Journalism by Work Experience Length of
Employment
as a Journalist
at the Time of the Survey West Germany, 1992
% East Germany, 1993
% Less than 4 years 40 (N = 156) 29 (N = 120) 4 - 8 years 33 (N = 271) 40 (N =
86) 9 - 13 years 22 (N = 179) 35 (N = 69) 14 - 23 years 17 (N = 195) 42 (N =
138) 24 years and more 12 (N = 178) 33 (N = 64) All journalists 25 (N = 983) 36
(N = 477)
Table 5: Evaluation of Political Parties (Average Sympathy Score)
Question: "And now to the parties in Germany: Imagine a
thermometer
measuring only from plus 5 to minus 5, with a zero point in
between.
Please use this thermometer to tell me your opinion of each
party. Plus
5 means that you agree fully with that party, minus 5 means
that you
don't agree at all with that party."
West Germany,
1992
(N = 983) East Germany,
1993
(N = 477) CDU/CSU (Christian Democrats) _0,9 _1,2 SPD (Social
Democrats) +0,2 +0,4 FDP (Free Democrats) _0,9 _0,8 Buendnis 90/Gruene
(Greens) 0,0 +0,7 PDS (Socialists) _3,0 _1,5 "Republikaner" (Rightwing
extremists) _4,3 _4,5
Table 6: Journalists' Image of Their Audience
Question: "If you think of the audience you work for: How would
you
describe it, what characteristics are often to be found?"
[Cards in 1990-
81; in 1992-3: "I am reading to you some of those
characteristics.
Please tell me whether they apply to your audience or
not."] West Germany East Germany Positive Descriptions: 1980-81
(N = 450)
% 1992
(N = 983)
% 1993
(N = 477)
% interested in politics 55 50 73 open-minded 46 54 88 critical,
demanding 41 49 73 well-informed 33 49 74 committed 29 42 62 self-confident 27 5
8 63 tolerant 24 37 61 progressive 13 26 53 Negative
Descriptions: conventional,
petit-bourgeois 38 44 55 superficial 28 33 38 apathetic 28 23 26 sensation-seeki
ng 23 41 50 narrow-minded 19 20 29 easily
influenced 15 29 46 stubborn 12 20 23 insecure * 24 77 neutral
descriptions: right wing 36 34 13 left wing 15 17 32 Sum 482 650 936
*not asked. Table 7:Attractions of Journalism
Question: "If you think about it from today's perspective:
Which of these
points do you find particularly attractive in your profession?"
[Cards in 1980-
81]. West Germany East
Germany 1980-81 1992
(N = 450) (N =
983) 1993
(N = 477) The chance of uncovering and criticizing
grievances 70
67 93 The chance to express oneself 68 74 94 The exciting, eventful nature of
the job 64 82 96 The professional freedom to choose one's tasks
and subjects 64
68 85 That one meets interesting people 55 67 97 The chance of championing
values and ideals 42 49 81 The chance of pursuing one's interests
further 38 63 85 That there is so little routine 37 45 74 The chance of passing
on my own convictions
to many people 34
34 61 To be among of the first who know what's
going on 32
51 83 The chance of influencing political decisions 29 30 47 The interesting
people one works with 22 56 82 Having to work under time
pressure 20 36 54 Because it is fun to see one's name and work
published 17
39 50 Good pay 13 43 73 The high regard people have for journalists 2 10 42 Good
prospects 1 24 48 The chance of specializing * 31 56 Secure
employment * 31 60 That one gets around * 55 78 Sum 608 955 1439
*not asked. Table 8:How Appropriate Are Journalistic Roles?
Question: "In your opinion, how should a journalist understand
his/her task,
how should a journalist see him/herself? Please tell me whether
you agree or
disagree with the following descriptions." West Germany East
Germany
1980-81 1992
(N = 450) (N = 983)
% % 1993
(N = 477)
% Taking up grievances 95
95 98 A neutral reporter of events 81 89 84 A guardian of democracy 79 81 87 A
proponent of new ideas 72 87 94 A spokesman for the underdogs 70 74 84 Someone
who advises and helps people 58 64 89 Someone who entertains the
public 54 77 87 Mirroring what the public thinks 47 64 71 An instructor or
educator 16 13 25 Someone who exerts political
influence 12 11 25 Sum 584 655 744 Table 9:Journalists' Opinions on "Unusual"
Research Methods
Question: "Because it is often very difficult to get important
information,
journalists sometimes use unusual methods. Which of the
following methods
do you think may be justified and which would you not approve
under any
circumstances?" West Germany East
Germany 1980-81 1992
(N = 450) (N = 983)
% % 1993
(N = 477)
% Using confidential government documents
without authorization 57
75 65 Getting employed to gain inside information 36 46 43 Paying people for
confidential information 25 28 15 Pretending to have a specific opinion or
attitude to get the trust of an informant 25
39 23 Claiming to be somebody else 22 28 27 Badgering unwilling informants to
get a story 8 6 3 Making use of personal documents such as
letters and photographs without permission 5
10 4 Agreeing to protect confidentiality and not
doing so 1
3 1 Using hidden microphones or cameras * 22 25 Sum 179 257 206
*not asked.
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