Role in Journalism
The role of a watchdog journalist can be that of a protector or guardian. The role of a watchdog journalist as a guardian is to supply the citizens with information they must have "to prevent the abuse of power" and "warn citizens about those that are doing them harm". In order to conduct their role as a watchdog journalists need to have a certain distance to the powers and challenge them, as opposed to "propagandist" journalists, who are loyal to a country's ruling powers and elites. Because of the power distance and its overseeing function, watchdog journalism often officiates as the fourth estate or is used in the context of that term. The array of topics for watchdog journalism is wide and includes "personal scandals, financial wrongdoing, political corruption, enrichment in public office, and other types of wrongdoing". In order to expose wrongdoings the watchdog aims at "finding hidden evidence". The aforementioned aspects are necessary for the role of the watchdog journalist to help "maintain order" and "warn against disorder".
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