Navigating Ideals and Realities: On Using Reconstruction Interviews to Study Journalistic Roles

The study of journalistic roles has become a staple in journalism research. The concrete link between role perceptions and role performance, however, remains in a “black box”. This article introduces reconstruction interviews as a holistic approach that blends perceptual and performative approaches to the study of journalistic roles. It discusses the method’s specific benefits and weaknesses, when applied to explore the relationship between role ideals and practice and demonstrates how the method can tease out different levels of influence on journalistic roles. This is done by showcasing reconstruction interviews with European journalists (n = 15) who routinely cover large technology corporations. Notably, the method provides tangible reference points for anchoring journalistic roles in their performance and establishes an empirical connection between ideals and practice, all while maintaining a crucial conceptual distinction between roles emerging as ideals and practices. The reconstruction of journalistic roles promotes critical reflection, and facilitates a holistic analysis of journalism practice across micro-, meso-, and macro-levels.