Magdalena Saldaña

Reporting in Latin America: Issues and Perspectives on Investigative Journalism in the Region

This study investigates challenges faced by investigative journalists in Latin America, one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters. Guided by the hierarchy of influences model, we analyzed answers from 1,543 journalists, journalism educators, and journalism students in the region. We identified both single and multilevel constraints impeding investigative reporting in Latin America. Single-level influences are those that are better analyzed by focusing on one level of the hierarchical model. These included individual (lack of training), routine (relationships with sources), organizational (media ownership), and institutional influences (censorship). However, results also suggest there are certain types of influences that are better suited for analysis combining all levels. Despite two decades of media liberalization, crime and corruption, state violence against the press, and the lack of a free-speech culture cut across all layers, posing severe constraints to investigative reporting in Latin America.

Sharing the Stage: Analysis of social media adoption by Latin American journalists

Despite the proliferation of research on social media and journalism, only a few studies have analyzed how journalists in Latin America embrace the affordances of social platforms for journalism practice. Based on a survey of 877 Latin American reporters, this article examines the platforms journalists use and how they use them. The broad finding is that, despite the great popularity of Facebook in the region, Twitter is the most important platform for daily newsgathering and journalistic work. Journalists turn to Twitter to find sources and stories, showing an important openness to participatory journalism. Yet, they mistrust information provided from political sources. Our findings show that different regions in Latin America work with social media in different ways, and local journalistic cultures have an impact on these adoptions, especially in the case of Brazil. Further research and implications for the field are discussed.

Ethical perspectives in Latin America’s journalism community: A comparative analysis of acceptance of controversial practice for investigative reporting:

Latin Americans are living in an unprecedented era of democracy while experiencing a spike in investigative journalism production. Investigative journalism holds its own conundrums of ethical decision-making related to techniques used and consequences of its content. This study analyzes ethical interpretations in the region’s investigative journalism community through a comparative analysis based on a survey conducted with journalists, journalism educators, and students from 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Our findings highlight the prevalence of a deontological perspective to ethics, with the majority of the respondents rejecting the use of soft-lies as investigative techniques. The study found, however, variability in ethical perspective within Latin America and Caribbean’s geo-cultural regions, with Central America and the Caribbean region leading in opposition and Brazil and the Southern Cone indicating more lenience toward controversial practices. When it comes to source-related controversial techniques, the journalism community in the region overwhelmingly rejects such practices.

Journalism–Business Tension in Swedish Newsroom Decision Making

ABSTRACT From Kohlberg’s moral reasoning approach, this study analyzes the decision-making process of a group of Swedish newspaper editors. We use a qualitative methodology to examine how editors respond to three ethical dilemmas related to company loyalty, journalistic values, and newsroom diversity. Findings suggest that commercial considerations do not outweigh the inherent ethical/journalistic influence on decisions concerning the newsroom. Further categorization reveals that ethical and managerial reasoning co-exist in a news media landscape that requires capturing readers and investors without neglecting journalistic values and norms. In investigating the moral, ethical, and business aspects of newspaper editors’ decision-making process, our findings reveal the delicate balance Swedish editors strive for during an increasingly difficult and transitional period in journalism.

When Gaps Become Huuuuge: Donald Trump and Beliefs About Immigration

Immigration became a hot issue during the 2016 presidential election, in part due to Donald Trump’s offensive campaign against immigrants and minorities in general. Drawing upon the belief gap hypothesis, we tested if support for Donald Trump increased false beliefs about immigrants. The belief gap hypothesis explains differences in beliefs about empirically verifiable and politically contested issues, relying on ideology and partisanship—instead of education— to predict people’s beliefs. By using nationally representative panel data, this study explored how political ideology and education work together to predict belief gaps about immigrants. Findings suggest that conservative ideology and education interact to predict attitudes, showing that highly educated conservatives hold more negative beliefs about immigrants as compared to highly educated liberals or less educated conservatives. We also found that Trump’s supporters exhibit negative attitudes and beliefs about immigration—yet results indicate that Donald Trump is not the cause of such attitudes but the catalyst that reveals them. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Latin American Investigative Journalism Education: Learning Practices, Learning Gaps

This study seeks to examine the state of investigative journalism practices used in higher education in Latin America. Using a meta-theoretical framework called the Community of Practice (CoP), this study seeks to identify whether a particular learning practice exists in this region. Based on an online survey conducted on Latin American educators and students, several gaps exist between them on the techniques and resources used to learn about investigative journalism. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the CoP approach as well as their impact on the profession and investigative journalism education in the region.