Jornalistas em Tempo de Pandemia: Novas Rotinas Profissionais, Novos Desafios Éticos

Abstract

A pandemia da covid-19 e o subsequente processo de confinamento conduziram a linhas de convulsão em diferentes setores da sociedade. Marcado por um contexto de instabilidade e incerteza, onde diferentes manifestações de transformação tecnológica, económica e social potenciam novas práticas e convenções, bem como suscitam novos e renovados desafios deontológicos, o jornalismo não é exceção. Com base nas respostas de um inquérito a 890 jornalistas portugueses, o presente artigo procura mapear os efeitos do estado de emergência de março a abril de 2020 nas práticas e rotinas, e nos preceitos ético-profissionais de uma atividade que avoca uma reavivada relevância num ambiente de desinformação e “infodemia”. Mais do que revelarem novos problemas, os resultados sugerem uma acentuação dos desafios e dilemas pré-existentes. No plano das práticas, indicia-se uma domiciliação relativamente transversal da atividade. Este fenómeno é acompanhado por marcas de despersonalização do contacto com as fontes e eventos, e por sinais de isolamento social dos jornalistas. No campo ético-deontológico, sublinha-se a emergência de questões deontológicas particulares no contexto da pandemia, onde os aspetos relacionados com o rigor — rejeição do sensacionalismo, distinção clara entre factos e opiniões ou repúdio de quaisquer formas de censura —, assim como os elementos subjacentes ao contacto com as fontes, assumem especial dimensão.

Perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of science journalists: global perspectives

“…Participants from six world regions answered questions related to workload, the most used sources and the relationship with them, the use of preprint articles, and ways to deal with fake news. In the wake of other studies on journalism in times of pandemic [Fernandes, 2021;Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021;IFJ, 2020;Lasser et al, 2020], we can conclude that the health crisis of enormous proportions imposed -and continues to impose -drastic changes on science journalism, intensifying challenges and dilemmas prior to the pandemic [Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Perreault and Perreault, 2021].…”

“…In this context, we bring the discussion raised by Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins [2021] on the effect of lockdown on changing practices and ways of contact with sources and with the places of events. The survey with Portuguese journalists identified the replacement of more direct and face-to-face formulae by synchronous or asynchronous distance contact models.…”

“…But overall, our results confirm recent studies. The survey carried out by Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins [2021] with Portuguese journalists shows that the concern with the accuracy of information is the most mentioned among the ten items proposed, in all categories, age groups and levels of remuneration. In interviews conducted with journalists, Perreault and Perreault [2021] found that misinformation is one of the reasons journalists constructed their relationship with information during the pandemic as innately problematic.…”

“…With news taken over by a single subject, many journalists who generally do not cover science topics have had to focus on a complex and specialized issue [IFJ, 2020]. This occurred amid an increasing workload and consequent worsening in pressure and stress [Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021], an environment of disinformation [Makri, 2021;Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Perreault and Perreault, 2021;Wardle and Derakhshan, 2017], and the dynamics of science itself, which needed to accelerate its pace to tackle a new disease. Scientific data needed to be published quickly and there was a significant increase in preprint manuscripts, without peer review, which have been widely used since the crisis took global proportions [Fleerackers et al, 2021;Fraser et al, 2020].…”

“…Studies have been carried out to investigate the situation of journalists in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [Fernandes, 2021;Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021;IFJ, 2020;Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Wollnik, 2021]. This article adds a global perspective to these initiatives by presenting the results of a survey of science journalists from countries in six world regions.…”