Citizen News Podcasts and Journalistic Role Conceptions in the United States and South Korea

This study, drawing on journalistic role conceptions and media systems theory, investigates the different perceptions of news users in the United States and South Korea toward citizen-run news podcasts. The findings reveal that Americans view citizen podcasts performing the role of interpreters of social issues more than other journalistic roles, while Koreans display a perception that the most important role of citizen podcasts is critical commentator against the government and businesses. The study also finds that Korean news users’ trust in citizen podcasts is significantly higher than that of Americans. The present study concludes that citizen podcasts play an alternative role in Korean journalism, while they complement professional journalism in the United States.