借助職業社會學的角色模範（role model）概念，本文探索了優秀記者能否成為專業意識形態的載體從而影響其他新聞工作者。研究以香港為個案，用2006及2011年新聞記者調查數據考察了以上問題。結果發現，心中有角色模範的受訪者更相信新聞的社會影響力、更認同新聞的專業功能、政治觀念更自由。來自不同地方專業模範代表的理念和認知差異不大，但相對而言，來自中國大陸的理想記者在香港記者心中似乎更能代表新聞的倡議功能。研究顯示了角色模範概念適用於對新聞工作者的分析，初步驗證了此概念對新聞研究的重要性，並為未來的分析奠下基礎。

Based on the concept of role models from career studies, this research determined whether distinctive journalists influence other journalists by embodying professional ideologies. Based on the case of Hong Kong, we examined this topic by using data from surveys of journalists in 2006 and 2011, and found that respondents having professional role models tended to believe that news had strong social influences. The respondents ranked the professional functions of news to be high and liberal in political attitude. We also found that ideal journalists (role models) nominated by Hong Kong journalists were quite similar in terms of the journalistic paradigm and ideologies, despite their originating from varied societies. By contrast, ideal journalists from Mainland China represent the advocating function of journalism. We determined that the concept of the role model is applicable to studying journalists by providing initial evidence of its significance in journalism studies. The findings of this study establish a foundation for further study on this issue.