Abstract

SILVA, Marta Santos. “I Don’t Have the Necessary Conditions”: How Television and Radio Journalists Rate the Quality of Journalism in Portugal. Comunicação e Sociedade [online]. 2023, vol.44, e023020.  Epub Nov 09, 2023. ISSN 1645-2089.  https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.44(2023).4737.

Studying the quality of journalism in Portugal is important, given the current financial crisis the business landscape is going through, where newsrooms are increasingly smaller and with precarious working conditions. In this context, how do Portuguese television and radio journalists assess the quality of journalism practised in Portugal and the conditions they have to produce news? This article seeks to answer two research questions, through the use of semistructured interviews with 11 radio and television journalists in Portugal: (a) how do television and radio journalists define quality journalism; and (b) how do television and radio journalists assess the quality of journalism produced in Portugal?

The interviewees stressed the importance of following the profession’s ethical rules, maintaining accuracy and impartiality, as well as other more formal aspects, such as the quality of their writing or the ability to captivate their audience. As for the conditions needed to practise good journalism, the importance of time and job stability stood out, which the interviewees agreed are in short supply. Although the interviewees were not unanimous in their assessment of the quality of television and radio journalism in Portugal - even the most positive ones had criticisms to make - most of the journalists interviewed considered that their working conditions for producing good journalism fall short of what is desired.

Keywords : quality of journalism; interviews; television; radio; precarity.

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