Journalistic roles and community expectations : external and internal challenges for local investigative journalism

Čakš, Peter (author), Kožuh, Ines (author), Žilič Fišer, Suzana (author)

Local journalism faces unique challenges, lacking the resources available to larger national or global outlets. At the local level, media professionals navigate daily news routines with limited resources, and often struggle to support investigative projects while addressing community expectations. These difficulties arise from several factors, including limited funding, staffing shortages, and a shift towards a community-oriented role. This study explores how Slovenian local journalists and editors balance their watchdog role with community expectations of being “good neighbours”, while examining the internal and external challenges shaping local investigative journalism. Through a mixed-methods approach, the findings revealed that time constraints, production pressures and limited newsroom resources often prevent sustained investigative efforts, with existing investigative practices redirected frequently towards routine news production. Journalists prioritise community-relevant topics, such as the local economy, education, healthcare and politics, over critical reporting, reflecting audience expectations. As a consequence of these factors, a hybrid professional identity has emerged, integrating watchdog ideals with community service. Despite these challenges, Slovenian local journalists maintain a strong commitment to professional autonomy and ethical standards while navigating complex professional and community demands, and they view their local media as a vital component of their communities.

• Language: English
• Keywords: local media, local journalism, local investigative journalism, investigative journalism, journalistic roles, local news
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 1502–1520
• Numbering: Vol. 20, no. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-182298
• UDC: 316.77
• ISSN on article: 1751-2794
• DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2025.2582166
• COBISS.SI-ID: 258147075
• Publication date in RUL: 06.05.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journalism practice
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1751-2794
• COBISS.SI-ID: 522194969

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: lokalni mediji, lokalno novinarstvo, lokalno preiskovalno novinarstvo

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0399
• Name: Internetno raziskovanje