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

ABSTRACT: 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. RESUMO – Embora os estudos sobre jornalismo partam de um debate consolidado sobre valores notícia, existem menos investigações a respeito dos valores utilizados para selecionar um assunto em editoriais. Partindo do conceito de editorialidade, este artigo procura examinar empiricamente quais valores editoriais influenciam em como as organizações noticiosas constroem suas opiniões institucionais. Metodologicamente, usamos Análise de Conteúdo para descobrir o que faz um assunto ser abordado em 840 editoriais publicados por Folha de S. Paulo e O Estado de S. Paulo em 2007 e 2017. Os resultados mostram que “topicalidade”, “elites” e “conflito” são os valores editoriais mais frequentes nas duas publicações, mostrando algum paralelo com os valores notícia, embora não haja uma sobreposição completa. Nosso trabalho oferece uma contribuição crucial para revelar similaridades e singularidades típicas de diferentes culturas editoriais, oferecendo a oportunidade de refletir sobre pesquisa e prática jornalística de forma mais ampla. RESUMEN – Aún que los estudios sobre periodismo estén consolidados acerca de los valores noticia, hay menos investigaciones acerca de los valores que se usan para seleccionar un asunto en editoriales. Este artículo parte del concepto de editorialidad para analizar empíricamente que valores editoriales afectan como los media crean sus opiniones institucionales. Nosotros usamos análisis de contenido para averiguar lo que hace que un asunto sea tratado en 840 editoriales publicados por Folha de S.Paulo y O Estado de S. Paulo, dos de los principales periódicos de Brasil. Los resultados muestran que “topicalidad”, “élites”, y “conflicto” son los valores editoriales más frecuentes en los dos periódicos, revelando semejanza con valores noticia, aún que no haya superposición total. Nuestro trabajo ofrece una importante contribución para revelar semejanza y singularidad de distintas culturas editoriales, con la oportunidad de reflexionar acerca de la investigación y practica periodística de forma más amplia

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

What are newspaper editorials interested in? Understanding the idea of criteria of editorial-worthiness

Despite the large array of research dedicated to examining the concepts of news values and newsworthiness, journalism studies barely attempt to deal with the idea of editorial-worthiness at the theoretical level. This article proposes a conceptual foundation to reflect on the elements influencing how news organizations build their editorial positions. Studying the idea of editorial-worthiness is essential to catalog the characteristics guiding newspapers’ editorial decisions and production processes, as well as to understand the differences between professional rules and cultures shaping opinionated practices in contemporary journalism. By employing an approach based on a review of the literature, the article proposes a conceptualization of criteria of editorial-worthiness consisting of (1) editorial factors and (2) editorial values, further divided into 25 items. The proposal allows journalism research to acknowledge how the gatekeeping function plays out on editorial pages by categorizing the elements influencing editorial production routines

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

The Journalist between the Profession and the Newspaper's Interests: Values and Routines in the Production of Folha De S. Paulo’s Editorials

Notwithstanding journalistic editorials may evidence conflicts and negotiations involving public and private interests, their production process is little investigated in Brazil. The article examines the values and routines typical to the work of Folha de S. Paulo’s editorialists to find out how they construct newspaper’s positions. By applying Content Analysis to three in-depth interviews, we propose four thematic axes regarding the features of journalistic editorials: Political and marketing roles; their target audience; production routines; and editorial values of the newspaper. The results indicate that editorialists exercise limited autonomy, striving to fit the positions historically defended by the publication. Such a condition is seen as natural by the interviewees, with no record of tensions between their individual opinions and newspaper’s positions. Embora o editorial possa tornar evidentes conflitos e negociações envolvendo interesses públicos e privados na atividade jornalística, seu processo de produção é pouco investigado no Brasil. O objetivo do artigo é examinar, a partir do estudo de valores e rotinas inerentes à atuação dos editorialistas, os modos pelos quais os posicionamentos da Folha de S. Paulo (FSP) são construídos. A Análise de Conteúdo de três entrevistas em profundidade realizadas com profissionais da FSP permitiu sistematizar quatro eixos temáticos acerca dos editoriais: função política; público-alvo; rotinas produtivas; e valores da empresa. Os resultados indicam que os editorialistas exercem autonomia limitada, esforçando-se para se enquadrar no histórico de posições da empresa. Tal condição é vista com naturalidade pelos entrevistados, sem registro de tensões entre opiniões individuais e posicionamentos institucionais. Aunque el editorial sea capaz de evidenciar conflictos y negociaciones entre el interés público y privado en la práctica periodística, su proceso productivo es poco examinado en Brasil. El objetivo del artículo es analizar, a través del estudio de valores y rutinas inherentes a la actuación de los editorialistas, como los posicionamientos de Folha de S. Paulo son diseñados. El Análisis de Contenido de tres entrevistas en profundidad realizadas con profesionales de FSP ha sido organizada en cuatro ejes temáticos acerca de los editoriales: función política; público objetivo; rutinas de producción; y valores de la empresa. Los resultados indican que los editorialistas tienen una autonomía limitada y que se adaptan al historial de posicionamientos de la compañía. Esta adecuación es percibida con naturalidad, sin registro de tensiones entre opiniones individuales y posicionamientos institucionales

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

A empresa jornalística como ator político : Um estudo quanti-qualitativo sobre o impeachment de Dilma Rousseff nos editoriais de Folha e Estadão

This article examines how Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo expressed their political position on the impeachment of the former president Dilma Rousseff in editorials. The comparative study encompasses quantitative and qualitative approaches of 507 texts (FSP=156; OESP=351) that mentioned “impeachment” or “impedimento”, published between 2015 and 2016. The hypotheses are: 1) Both newspapers build the legitimacy of Rousseff’s removal according to the institutional calendar; 2) Both newspapers present similar points of view regarding the process; 3) Both newspapers anchor the legitimacy of Rousseff’s impeachment on legal pleas. By using a Content Analysis, we argue that: FSP and OESP mention the impeachment process even before its institutional beginning; both of them are concerned about constructing the impeachment’s legitimacy but use diverse arguments to justify it; OESP supports the process as the best exit for the crisis; FSP prefers the president and her vice-president to resign, an action that should be followed by new elections

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