Book excerpt: This volume lays out the theoretical and methodological framework to introduce the concept of journalistic role performance, defined as the outcome of concrete newsroom decisions and the style of news reporting when considering different constraints that influence the news product. By connecting role conception to role performance, this book addresses how journalistic ideals manifest in practice. The authors of this book analyze the disconnection between journalists’ understanding of their role and their actual professional performance in a period of high uncertainty and excitement about the future of journalism due the changes the Internet and new technologies have brought to the profession.