The Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS) is an academically driven project that was founded to regularly assess the state of journalism throughout the world. The Study’s primary objective is to help journalism researchers, practitioners, media managers and policy makers better understand the worldviews and changes that are taking place in the professional orientations of journalists, the conditions and limitations under which journalists operate, and the social functions of journalism in a changing world.
The Canadian Worlds of Journalism Study is one of 110 country teams in the global project’s “third wave” (WJS3). Over 27,500 journalists were interviewed in the second wave, using a common questionnaire and methodological framework between 2012 and 2016. The questionnaire elicited views of journalists on journalism’s place in society, journalists’ ethics and autonomy, influences on newsmaking, journalistic trust in public institutions, and transformations of journalism.
The basic principles of cooperation are formulated in the global study’s Statute.
For the Canadian study, we conducted telephone interviews with 361 journalists, sampled for random representation, across the country, between 2014 and 2016. This scripted interview used a questionnaire largely identical to that used in all participating countries, with a few additional local questions. We followed up with 51 qualitative interviews conducted in person and by Skype. All our sampling included both anglophone and francophone journalists, and both freelancers and journalists working at large, medium and small organizations, in representative numbers, across the country.
