Toward a New Conceptualization of Journalistic Competency: An Analysis of U.S. Broadcasting Job Announcements

Abstract

Journalistic competency is a constitutive element of professional values and practices in journalism. But what constitutes journalistic competency in today’s ever-changing media landscape? Existing literature lacks theoretical and empirical understandings of journalistic competency, especially in broadcasting. Drawing on Cheetham and Chivers’s competence model, we examine professional competencies as defined by broadcast media through a content analysis of 359 job announcements. Four dimensions of journalistic competency were explicated and empirically assessed: cognitive/knowledge, functional, personal/behavioral, and ethical competence.