AMERICAN AND GERMAN ONLINE JOURNALISTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY

This paper presents the key findings of the first comparative survey of online journalists in the United States and Germany. It is based on a sub-sample of the latest American journalist study and the study “Online Journalists in Germany.” The article develops the objectives of the studies and explicates the methodology, and it presents key findings on basic characteristics of online journalists, jobs and tasks in online journalism, and the professional views and attitudes of Web journalists in the United States and Germany. The comparisons show some striking differences between American and German online journalists. Their basic characteristics, levels of professionalization and role perceptions are more different than expected.