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

Abstract

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.

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

“…There are cases in which the newspaper’s position also stems from a consensus among the opinions of the several groups making up the organization’s ownership. This is verified by one of our recent studies (Mont’Alverne et al, 2018), in which the interviewed editorialists revealed that the agenda is chosen in a conference gathering editors, columnists, and other active voices in the newsroom.…”

“…A newspaper’s opinion tends to be stable over time. This is what some professionals and scholars call ‘jurisprudence’ (Arbex Júnior, 1987; Hansen et al, 1987; Mont’Alverne et al, 2018). The daily reading of editorials collaborates to train professionals to acknowledge how a newspaper thinks about public issues.…”

“…Notwithstanding, this does not guarantee complete freedom to their authors, since editors and managers look after the goal of maintaining the regularity in how newspapers build their opinion over time. One consensus that remains stable among professionals over the decades (Meltzer, 2007; Mont’Alverne et al, 2018; Oakes, 1964; Wiggins, 1942) is the idea that the opinion presented in editorial texts belongs to the institution. The article by Riffe et al (1985) brings testimonies of opinion editors that establish the boundaries between institutional opinion and those belonging to collaborators: ‘The artwork is that of the artist, but the message is that of the newspaper’ (p. 898).…”

“…Finally, we used the following methodological steps to propose the taxonomy detailed below: in addition to the literature review, it is important to mention the experiences registered in previous researches and interviews we conducted with quality papers’ opinion editors (Mont’Alverne and Marques, 2015; Mont’Alverne et al, 2018). We also considered interviews and documents provided by opinion editors from different countries and who worked in other periods of time (Firmstone, 2008; Oakes, 1964; Wiggins, 1942), which increases the potential for our taxonomy to be somewhat generalized.…”

“…Willig (2012), thus, defends the importance of studying the specific habitus of the professionals responsible for producing editorials. In other words, considering that newspapers have different ways of operationalizing editorial production routines (Firmstone, 2008; Mont’Alverne et al, 2018; Wahl-Jorgensen, 2009), a newsroom ethnography of such a process would clarify how the criteria listed here interact with each other.…”