Journalistic Roles and Everyday Life

Figures & data

TABLE 1 Sample characteristics

Individual level
Age (mean)	42.9
Female (%)	66.1
Full-time employed (%)	54.4
Part-time employed (%)	11.4
Freelancer (%)	26.5
Blogger (%)	7.5
Work experience in journalism (mean years)	16.2 (SD = 11.6)
Work experience in lifestyle journalism (mean years)	11.2 (SD = 8.72)
Completed university degree (%)	78.4
Specialized in journalism at university (%)	46.7
Salary (A$, median, yearly after taxes)	36,400–45,400
Specializations
Travel	46.1
Food, cuisine, cooking	40.6
Health, wellness, fitness	38.8
Music, movies	30.5
Fashion, beauty	28.2
People, celebrity	26.6
Living, gardening, design	26.1
Parenting, family	21.9
Personal technology	17
Property, real estate	14.9
Personal finance	10.9
Organizational level
Newspaper	33.8
Magazine	54.9
Online	83.4
Television	9.4
Radio	18.2
Competition (mean)	3.63 (SD = 1.11)
Financial situation (mean)	3.31 (SD = 1.06)
Dependence on advertising (mean)	3.29 (SD = 1.55)

TABLE 2 Lifestyle journalists’ role conceptions

	N	Mean	SD	% very/extremely important
Provide content that is fun to read/view/listen to	608	4.24	0.86	82.7
Provide content that inspires audiences	607	4.2	0.94	80.9
Provide content that entertains audiences	612	4.19	0.92	81.7
Tell audiences about new trends and highlight new ideas	610	3.95	0.98	72.2
Focus on content that audiences can use in their daily lives	608	3.86	0.97	68
Provide a service to audiences	606	3.84	1.09	67
Provide advice to audiences	603	3.56	1.16	57
Focus on positive stories	609	3.55	1.15	55.5
Inform audiences about new products and services	608	3.51	1.19	54.7
Help create communities of audiences	608	3.51	1.18	54.5
Advocate for audiences’ interests	607	3.49	1.12	54
Provide ideas on how audiences can spend their leisure time	608	3.38	1.22	51.2
Provide content that lets audiences relax	602	3.25	1.18	43.2
Help people navigate through their lives	604	3.23	1.19	43.3
Provide reviews of products and services	609	3.22	1.26	43.5
Tell audiences about ethical and moral dimensions of certain lifestyles or experiences	608	3.17	1.20	42.2
Offer examples of how people can live their lives	604	3.15	1.23	41.1
Provide a forum for audiences to ask questions	606	3	1.19	35.5
Motivate people to change their lifestyle	610	2.97	1.21	33.7
Promote the lifestyle industries	604	2.72	1.25	28.5
Monitor and scrutinize businesses involved in lifestyle industries	605	2.63	1.23	24.8

TABLE 3 Key determinants of lifestyle journalists’ role perceptions

	Service Provider			Life Coach			Community Advocate			Inspiring Entertainer
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Individual
Age	−0.013	−0.002	0.026	−0.05	−0.05	−0.009	0.013	0.007	0.002	−0.061	−0.059	−0.045
Salary	0.06	0.016	0.018	0.051	0.034	0.024	0.089	0.044	0.046	0.091	0.02	0.018
Journalism degree	−0.071	−0.069	−0.031	0.096	0.097	0.09	0.043	0.041	0.011	0.086	0.086	0.071
Employed	0.019	0.031	0.035	−0.044	−0.036	−0.04	0.023	0.039	0.033	−0.003	0.001	−0.025
Gender (1 = female)	−0.067	−0.071	−0.075	0.186***	0.184***	0.157**	0.037	0.04	0.04	0.085	0.078	0.044
Organizational
Competition		0.13**	0.131**		0.033	0.013		0.127*	0.124*		0.153**	0.142**
Financial situation		0.086	0.083		0.062	0.062		0.084	0.084		0.115*	0.117*
Dependence on advertising		0.08	0.083		−0.005	−0.005		−0.004	−0.019		0.112*	0.115*
Online		0.038	0.015		−0.01	−0.002		−0.005	−0.008		−0.012	0.003
Newspaper		−0.17**	−0.18***		−0.088	−0.046		−0.085	−0.074		−0.117*	−0.083
Magazine		0.11	0.089		0.025	0.071		−0.062	−0.049		0.061	0.092
Specialization
Travel			−0.045			0.024			−0.089			0.147*
Fashion, beauty			0.181**			−0.018			0.068			0.125*
Health, wellness, fitness			0.07			0.277***			0.036			−0.018
Food, cuisine, cooking			−0.058			−0.102			−0.132*			0.046
Living, gardening			−0.022			0.031			0.061			0.052
Parenting, family			−0.04			0.014			0.015			0.022
People, celebrity			−0.134*			−0.034			0.034			−0.079
Personal technology			0.025			0.144*			0.095			−0.037
Personal finance			−0.105			−0.002			0.003			−0.024
Property, real estate			0.024			−0.032			0.089			0.012
Music, movies			0.028			−0.021			−0.058			0.072
Variance explained (R^2)	0.016	0.1	0.14	0.061	0.076	0.168	0.014	0.046	0.089	0.033	0.102	0.179
Change in R^2		0.084***	0.04		0.015	0.092***		0.033*	0.043		0.07***	0.077***

The table shows multiple regression models predicting role dimensions (standardized beta values).

*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.