Serving Consumers, Citizens, or Elites: Democratic Roles of Journalism in Chilean Newspapers and Television News

Abstract

Print journalism has long been seen as a key institution of democratic politics, serving to enhance transparency, provide a forum for debate, and facilitate public participation. Instead, television journalism, particularly in its commercial form, has often been seen more negatively, as a form of infotainment that contributes little to the functions of journalism as an institution of democratic citizenship. Some scholars have questioned the dichotomy between infotainment and democratic roles, however, and the existing research comparing journalistic roles in print and television has produced mixed results. Focusing on the case of Chile and making use of a standardized news content-based index of journalistic roles, this study compares the prevalence of three professional roles by medium—newspapers and television—and also by audience orientation—popular and elite media across both print and television news. Our results show that commercial television in Chile is higher than print media in the performance of the watchdog and civic roles, and the infotainment role is positively, not negatively, correlated with these. We discuss the implication of these findings in light of the literature on infotainment and citizenship, as well as the emerging body of research on journalistic role performance.

The Chick Diffusion: How Newspapers Fail to Meet Normative Expectations Regarding Their Democratic Role in Public Debate

“…Broiler production was certainly, and at times noisily, publicly discussed in ways that clearly faulted corporations; and we found examples of such critical discussion of chicken meat production in newspapers across the political spectrum. Compatible with the findings and explanations put forth by Hallin and Mellado (2018), instead of "systemic contestation" our findings of coverage can better be characterized as "polemic contestation", with diffusion of public debate as an emergent consequence.…”

“…However, there is evidence that news media are not a Fourth Estate (Curran and Seaton 2002;Fenton 2010). In particular, they may not be a watchdog (Hackett 2005;Hallin and Mellado 2018). Studies question the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the political information provided by newspapers, as well as the expectation that they provide citizens with the substantial, factual and diverse views that are necessary for informed public debate (Curran 2005;Schudson 2005;Van Aelst et al 2017).…”

“…He argues that journalism serves democracy by providing fair and full information to citizens, by investigating concentrated sources of power, by providing analysis and coherent frameworks of interpretation to help citizens make sense of a complex world, by exposing citizens to the views and experiences of others, by providing a public forum for dialogue, and by serving as advocates for mobilization for particular political programs (Schudson 2008, 12). Print journalism and newspapers, in particular, are thought to have a "civic role" in which they facilitate citizen participation and deliberation (Hallin and Mellado 2018). However, empirical studies investigating newspaper coverage of party and electoral politics, governmental policies, or social movements (Bennett and Entman 2001) have found little supporting evidence.…”

“…However, empirical studies investigating newspaper coverage of party and electoral politics, governmental policies, or social movements (Bennett and Entman 2001) have found little supporting evidence. Hallin and Mellado (2018), for example, found that media coverage of problematic issues quickly dissipates, that individual issues were not linked to policy, that higher level power was not held accountable and wider structural forces were ignored. Some scholars argue, with critical media studies (McNair 2003), that such coverage benefits those best served by public silence (Djerf-Pierre and Shehata 2017).…”

Roles del periodismo político en un contexto multiplataforma y de crisis institucional

“…Además, este estudio incorpora y combina el análisis de medios impresos y digitales, debido a las transformaciones tecnológicas y culturales que el ecosistema mediático, entendido como el entorno de nuevas plataformas que reasignan otros lugares a los medios más antiguos (Kittler, 1996), ha experimentado en los últimos años en Chile (Hallin & Mellado, 2017).…”