Ideological and economic influences on journalistic autonomy and cynicism: A moderating role of digital adaptation of news organizations

This study examines how ideological and economic aspects of news media are related to journalists’ autonomy and cynicism, and whether organizational adaptation to digital environments moderates the effects of those ideological and financial influences. Using secondary data from journalists (N = 1956) provided by the Korea Press Foundation, this study investigates the relationships among ideological differences between journalists and news organizations, advertising/public relations (ad/PR) work, journalists’ autonomy, and job cynicism. Findings suggest that both ideological incongruence and ad/PR work decreased journalistic autonomy, with the latter a stronger predictor than the former. Decreased autonomy, in turn, increased cynicism. Ad/PR work significantly predicted cynicism, but ideological incongruence did not influence cynicism. In addition, the more the news organization has adapted to the digital realm, the weaker the relations between ideological incongruence and autonomy and between autonomy and cynicism. However, as the adaptation level increased, the negative impact of ad/PR work on autonomy became stronger. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.