What makes an issue relevant to newspaper editorials? : An empirical approach to criteria of editorial-worthiness

Although journalism studies rely on a well-grounded debate about news values, there are fewer investigations about the values used to select a topic in newspaper editorials. By tackling the concept of editorial-worthiness, this article aims to empirically examine which editorial values influence how news organizations build their institutional opinions. Methodologically, we use content analysis to find out what makes a topic worth being addressed in 840 editorials published by Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo (two Brazilian mainstream newspapers) in 2007 and 2017. Our results reveal that “topicality,” “the power elite,” and “conflict” are the most frequent editorial values in both organizations, showing some parallel with news values, although not a complete overlap. Lastly, our framework provides a key contribution to disclosing the similarities and singularities typical of different cultures concerning editorial journalism, offering the opportunity to think about journalism research and practice more broadly

Mídias sociais e eleições: um estudo sobre as campanhas de reeleição dos vereadores de Fortaleza no Twitter

This article adopts a qualitative approach to examine the content of the tweets posted by Fortaleza’s city councilors that ran for reelection in 2012. The goal is to understand in which way factors such as sociability influence how candidates use digital media. The corpus is composed by 1.852 tweets published in the profiles of the city councilors who served in the period 2009-2012. The messages were classified in the following categories: Promotion of ideas; Negative Campaign; Mobilization and Engagement; Promoting events with the candidate; Tweets unrelated to politics or with no specific classification. Results point out that Twitter is mainly used with an electoral emphasis: Mobilization and Engagement is responsible for 45,08% of the tweets posted by the candidates. Interviews with city councilors or their staff complements our findings. As the main conclusion, we can say that Twitter use is determined not only by technological factors, but by cultural, social and political ones.Keywords: communication, Internet, social media, Twitter, elections.O objetivo do artigo é analisar qualitativamente o conteúdo dos tweets de vereadores de Fortaleza que tentaram a reeleição em 2012, a fim de compreender de que maneira aspectos a exemplo da sociabilidade influenciam a adoção dos media digitais. O corpus do trabalho é composto por 1.852 tweets publicados durante a última semana de campanha eleitoral nos perfis dos vereadores de Fortaleza que tentaram a reeleição. As mensagens foram classificadas nas seguintes categorias: Promoção de Ideias; Campanha Negativa; Mobilização e Engajamento; Promoção de Eventos com o Candidato ou do Interesse Dele; Temas Alheios à Política ou Sem Classificação Específica. Aponta-se uma utilização primordialmente eleitoral do microblog, com a categoria Mobilização e Engajamento sendo responsável por 45,08% das mensagens. Entrevistas com parlamentares e assessores permitiram complementar a discussão dos achados da pesquisa, indicando que o uso do microblog é determinado não apenas por fatores de ordem tecnológica, mas também cultural, social e política.Palavras-chave: comunicação, Internet, mídias sociais, Twitter, eleições

Editorial journalism and political interests : comparing the coverage of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in Brazilian newspapers

The article investigates how Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo – two of the leading Brazilian quality newspapers – expressed their editorial positions on the impeachment of the ex-president Dilma Rousseff. The comparative study encompasses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine 506 editorial texts published between 2015 and 2016. By using Content Analysis, the research found out that Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo take different positions along the process: each newspaper presents particular arguments to justify the impeachment’s legitimacy; regarding the solution for the political situation, O Estado de S. Paulo fully supports the impeachment, while Folha de S. Paulo asks for the then president and her vice-president to resign. In the end, both organizations agree in their editorials that Rousseff has to be removed from office. At the same time, Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo try to avoid being seen as actors conspiring against democracy, which makes them dispute whether Rousseff’s impeachment was or not a coup. This research provides the opportunity to investigate to what extent journalism loosens its place as a watchdog to behave as a demanding actor

O que significa “Opinião Pública”? : Um estudo sobre os diferentes sentidos do termo nos editoriais do jornal O Estado de S. Paulo

After recognizing different approaches to the term "public opinion" throughout the twentieth century, the article examines how the editorials of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo (OESP) mobilize the concept at stake. Based on the premise that editorials highlight the role of newspapers as political agents, it is essential to investigate whether, and how, "public opinion" is evoked, for example, to legitimate positions of private agents. We examine quantitatively (verifying the frequency with which the term is used) and qualitatively (Content Analysis dedicated to verify the senses triggered by the pieces when they refer to the term) 95 editorial texts published in OESP that, between January of 2015 and December of 2016, mentioned "public opinion". We propose the following hypotheses: H1) The main issue in the editorials in our sample is politics, once editorials tend to address the political elites. H2) The most recurrent meaning of public opinion in editorials is the use of the term as an active agent presumably able to represent the collective will. The findings point out that the newspaper tends to mobilize the idea of public opinion more often to deal with political issues, often making it an active and autonomous agent

A atuação do jornalismo editorial no escândalo JBS : uma análise comparativa sobre os jornais Folha de S. Paulo e O Estado de S. Paulo

This article examines the editorial positions held by two mainstream Brazilian newspapers -Folha de S. PauloandO Estado de S. Paulo- regarding the scandal involving the former president, Michel Temer and the businessman, Joesley Batista. We examine 103 editorials published between May and September 2017. The period begins the day after the scandal arose to the end of the term of the then Attorney General, Rodrigo Janot. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis indicates differences in how the two newspapers addressed the scandal: while FSP insisted on distrusting Temer’s behavior, OESP criticized the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office. Both news outlets, however, agreed that the economic agenda had to be protected. This conclusion demonstrates the relevance of editorials for characterizing newspaper companies as players in the political game

Decline in subarachnoid haemorrhage volumes associated with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study\u27s objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres. Patients with the diagnosis of SAH, aneurysmal SAH, ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions and COVID-19 were identified by prospective aneurysm databases or by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes. The 3-month cumulative volume, monthly volumes for SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling procedures were compared for the period before (1 year and immediately before) and during the pandemic, defined as 1 March-31 May 2020. The prior 1-year control period (1 March-31 May 2019) was obtained to account for seasonal variation. FINDINGS: There was a significant decline in SAH hospitalisations, with 2044 admissions in the 3 months immediately before and 1585 admissions during the pandemic, representing a relative decline of 22.5% (95% CI -24.3% to -20.7%, p\u3c0.0001). Embolisation of ruptured aneurysms declined with 1170-1035 procedures, respectively, representing an 11.5% (95%CI -13.5% to -9.8%, p=0.002) relative drop. Subgroup analysis was noted for aneurysmal SAH hospitalisation decline from 834 to 626 hospitalisations, a 24.9% relative decline (95% CI -28.0% to -22.1%, p\u3c0.0001). A relative increase in ruptured aneurysm coiling was noted in low coiling volume hospitals of 41.1% (95% CI 32.3% to 50.6%, p=0.008) despite a decrease in SAH admissions in this tertile. INTERPRETATION: There was a relative decrease in the volume of SAH hospitalisations, aneurysmal SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm embolisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings in SAH are consistent with a decrease in other emergencies, such as stroke and myocardial infarction

Results of percutaneous vertebroplasty in the cervical spine

A vertebroplastia percutânea (VP) consiste na injeção de polimetilmetacrilato (PMMA) no corpo vertebral para alívio da dor e estabilização vertebral, porém seu uso na região cervical é restrito. No intuito de avaliar a efetividade e a segurança da VP na região cervical (VPC), foram avaliados 75 pacientes que se submeteram à VPC (n=101) por doença maligna (n=69) ou hemangioma vertebral (n=6) no período de janeiro de 1994 a outubro de 2007. A VPC foi realizada por uma abordagem ântero-lateral guiada por fluoroscopia. A dor foi graduada por uma escala variando de 0 a 10. O seguimento clinico (período médio de 8,8 meses) foi obtido em 57 (76%) pacientes: 48 tiveram a VPC indicada para controle da dor e nove para estabilização vertebral. Os dados foram analisados de forma univariada e multivariada. A efetividade analgésica foi obtida em 37 (77,1%) dos 48 pacientes seguidos, tendo sido associada ao volume de cimento injetado (P=0,011) e ao preenchimento vertebral (P=0,007) na análise multivariada. A estabilidade vertebral foi observada em 55 (96,5%) dos 57 pacientes, não se correlacionando com as variáveis estudadas. A curva de ROC identificou o preenchimento vertebral como preditor da efetividade analgésica (P=0,008), sendo 50% o melhor ponto de corte para discriminar a maior probabilidade de efetividade analgésica (sensibilidade de 78,0% e especificidade de 62,5%). O extravasamento de cimento foi identificado em 83 (82,2%) das 101 vértebras tratadas não se correlacionando com as variáveis estudadas. As complicações clínicas foram detectadas em 13 (17,3 %) pacientes: complicações locais em 10 (13,3%) e sistêmicas em três (4%) pacientes. As complicações clínicas foram estatisticamente relacionadas à ruptura do muro posterior (P=0,026) e ao extravasamento de PMMA no plexo venoso transverso (P=0,023). A taxa de mortalidade e morbidade a longo termo foi de 1,3% (um paciente) e 1,3% (um paciente). Pode se inferir que a VPC é um procedimento efetivo e seguro, sem se negligenciar os riscos potenciais de complicações. O preenchimento vertebral e o volume de cimento foram associados à efetividade analgésica, mas não à estabilidade vertebral. O preenchimento vertebral teve o maior poder discriminatório da efetividade analgésica, tendo sido obtido com o ponto de corte de 50 % o melhor equilíbrio entre sensibilidade e especificidade para se determinar a efetividade analgésicaPercutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) consists of an injection of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) into the vertebral body for pain relief and spinal stabilization, however reports of PV in the cervical spine (CPV) are scarce in the literature. To evaluate the effectiveness and security of CPV, we evaluated 75 patients (mean age, 51.3 years) who underwent CPV (n=101) for malignancies (n=69) and vertebral hemangiomas (n=6) between January 1994 and October 2007. CPV was performed via an antero-lateral approach, using fluoroscopic guidance. Pain intensity was scored with a scale ranging from 0 to 10. Follow-up (mean time of 8.8 months) was avaible in 57 (76 %) patients: 48 of them had CPV indicated for pain control and nine for spinal stabilization. Data were analysed by means of univariate and multivariate analysis. Pain improvement was observed in 37 (77.1%) out of 48 followed patients and was correlated in multivariate analysis with cement volume (P=0.011) and with vertebral filling (P=0.007). Spinal stabilization was observed in 55 (96.5%) of 57 followed patients and was related with none of the evaluated variables. The ROC curve identified the vertebral filling as a good predictor of pain improvement (P=0.008). The best cut-off point to discriminate pain improvement was 50% of vertebral filling (78.0% sensitivity and 62.5% specificity). In 83 (82.2%) of the 101 treated vertebral levels, at least one type of PMMA leakage was found. None of the evaluated factors were related significantly to PMMA leakage. Clinical complications were detected in 13 (17.3%) patients: local complications in 10 (13.3%) patients and systemic clinical complications in three (4.0%) patients. Posterior wall disruption (P=0.026) and transverse venous PMMA leakage (P=0.023) were significantly associated with clinical complications. Long-term morbidity and mortality rate was 1.3% (one patient) and 1.3% (one patient). CPV is a safe and efficacious procedure, but the potential for local and systemic complications must be considered. Cement volume and vertebral filling were associated with pain improvement but not with spinal stability. Vertebral filling has a good performance to predict pain improvement and a cut-off of 50% of vertebral filing obtained the best compromise between sensitivity and specificity to discriminate pain improvemen