TY - JOUR A1 - Spiller, Ralf A1 - Degen, Matthias A1 - Kronewald, Elke A1 - Guertler, Katherine T1 - Media watchblogs as an instrument of media accountability: An international survey T2 - Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies N2 - Media watchdog weblogs can play an important role in media accountability, provided that the bloggers are regularly active and have an appropriate awareness of their role in the media landscape. The following article examines the presence and influence of media watchblogs in selected nations, as well as the operators’ standards and perceptions of their roles. In semi-structured qualitative interviews, operators of watchblogs in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom discussed their perceptions of their role, their ethical guidelines, their financing and any conflicts of interest, and their projections for the future. The interviews reveal that most media watchbloggers do not interpret their role to be a Fifth Estate with a mandate to monitor the mass media. The watchbloggers are reluctant to accept and uphold formal ethical and quality criteria, and limitations on time and money make them unable to guarantee ongoing critical media analysis. For these reasons, media watchblogs are determined to be a weak instrument of media accountability. KW - ethics KW - expert interviews KW - international comparative study KW - media accountability KW - role identity KW - watchblogs Y1 - 2016 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/6791 SN - 2049-9531 VL - 5 IS - 2 SP - 151 EP - 176 PB - intellect ER -