Abstract:
The purposes of this study were 1) to study the performanceof Thai local journalists and 2) to
analyze the confirmatory factors of the performance of Thai journalists. Mixed method between qualitative and
qualitative research was used in the research. To qualitative research, in-depth interview was used to collect
data from 15 local Thai journalists who had more than 15 years of experience in the field of journalism. To
quantitative research, the questionnaire was constructed from literature review and was used to collect data
from 350 local journalists in each organization. The research results of the local Thai journalists from both data
indicated that there were 12 aspects: 1) past experience 2) writing and describing news 3) web / multimedia
skills 4) Working under pressure and limited time 5) Boldness 6) Communication ability 7) Judgment on news
8) Leadership 9) Accuracy 10) Software/ Computer Skills 11) Creativity and 12) Development of news sources.
By considering the consistency of the model, the researcher found that all 12 items of performance of Thai
journalists had values which passed the criteria. In fact, the value of Relative chi-square (χ2
/ df)) was 0.944
(less than 2), p-value was 0.876 (more than 0.05), RMSEA value was 0.000 (less than 0.05), GFI was 0.911,
and the value of AGFI was 0.888 (more than 0.85). When considering the confirmatory factor loadings, all the
value passed the set criteria (more than 0.6). Considering the suitability of observed variables of the overall
measurement modelby centralized authentication, the researcher found that the average variance extracted
(AVE) was greater than 0.45 for all latent variables. And the overall reliability of each latent variable (CR) was
greater than 0.6 for all latent variables. Therefore, journalists need to constantly develop themselves to create
quality news by seeking new information, learning an international language, and applying technology to create
better work. And most importantly, journalists must have good vision for writing a piece of news by ethically
providing actual information. They had to think of mutual benefits. Then they had to motivate readers by
analyzing new issues and they should have their own style of writing forms, analysis, and so on.