Journal article
"Fake News" and Journalistic Authority in Newspaper Editorials
Journalism studies (London, England), Vol.24(8), pp.1087-1110
06/11/2023
DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2023.2214941
Abstract
The article investigates how newspaper editorials address the "fake news" phenomenon concerning (1) the damages that mis- and disinformation pose to society and journalism; (2) the roles news organizations claim for themselves; (3) the communication agents mentioned; and (4) how media companies defend the field. We use content analysis to study 375 editorials published between 2017 and 2020 in three Brazilian quality-papers. Brazil is a relevant case since its media system and political institutions differ from those in the United States and Western Europe, leading us to understand metajournalistic discourses not necessarily seen in more stable environments. The results indicate that key political events (e.g., social security reform and presidential elections) became occasions for media organizations to publish more editorials discussing "fake news." Harming democracy was the main problem caused by mis- and disinformation. The newspapers regularly identified themselves as victims of attacks from political authorities. The editorial texts reinforced journalism's expertise in crafting and providing credible information, but, at the same time, such newspapers avoided responding to external criticisms. More interestingly, the outlets used terms associated with mis- and disinformation to attack rival groups. Lastly, our codebook provides an original contribution to the field as it considers a wide range of variables, encouraging comparative studies.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- "Fake News" and Journalistic Authority in Newspaper Editorials
- Creators
- Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques - Universidade Federal do ParanáEdna Miola - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáTim P. Vos - Michigan State UniversityGiulia Sbaraini Fontes - Federal University of ParanáDeivison Henrique De Freitas Santos - Federal University of Paraná
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journalism studies (London, England), Vol.24(8), pp.1087-1110
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.1080/1461670X.2023.2214941
- ISSN
- 1461-670X
- eISSN
- 1469-9699
- Number of pages
- 24
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 06/11/2023
- Academic Unit
- School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984771645902771
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