The paper aims to study approaches to defining
the concept of journalistic culture and determining its role in the development of national media systems at the current stage. The relevance of the study is associated with the definition of the institutional roles of journalism in the modern sociopolitical space and the correlation of these roles with national media systems. The research relies on the principles of comparative and functional analysis, which allow for establishing the main factors affecting the formation of journalistic culture altogether, as well as uncovering patterns in the similarities and differences between national and regional journalistic cultures. The paper also addresses the issue of prospects for the formation and development of a universal journalistic
culture.