Abstract

The results of this survey of 249 members of the Associated Press Sports Editors group suggest that today's newspaper sports journalists view themselves as professionals in relation to their colleagues who write hard and soft news in several matters. The sports journalistss saw themselves as possessing the best professional triats that their colleagues who report hard news and soft news possess. In addition, they also saw themselves as possessing other professional traits that neither hard and soft news writers possess. In terms of their perceptions of the profesional orientations of their colleagues, hard news writers were seen as more interested in attaining social influence and less interested in creativity and what can be described as the "fun and excitement" aspects of journalism than soft news writers. Soft news writers, by contrast, were viewed as more interested in creativity and fun excitement than hard news writers. The results of this study point to perceptions rather than reality, and there is no dispute that there is probably a good deal of social desirability involved in perceiving oneself as highly professional and possessing the best characteristics in the field of journalism. Aus der Schlussfolgerung