From Cultivating Fans to Coping With Troublemakers : A Typology of Journalists’ Audience Relationships

The journalism–audience relationship has become central in journalism research, yet it is not singular but diverse, varying even for individual journalists. Based on 52 in-depth interviews, we develop a typology of 11 distinct forms of audience relationships that journalists can maintain and combine. Each form represents a communicative figuration encompassing a specific audience construction, unique relationship practices, and a certain frame of relevance. Emerging forms—in response to the challenges facing journalism—complement traditional role-based relationships to a general public that is merely imagined by emotionally rooted connections to specific social groups and individuals who are observed and even interacted with.