Journalistic Roles of the Media in Ecuador during the State of Emergency due to COVID-19

Main Article Content

Susan Benalcázar Calle
Diana Viveros Aguilar
Jorge Maza-Cordova

Abstract

This article has as its main objective performing an analysis of the journalistic roles performed by the media in Ecuador during the State of Emergency due to COVID-19 between March and September 2020. The methodology employed consists of a content analysis with an analytical and descriptive approach of the news broadcasted in the main media tv, radio, printed and digital platforms in Ecuador; in which the presence of six journalistic roles was measured: interventionist, vigilant, loyal-facilitator, info-entertaining and civic and service roles. Trough the method of the built week, a sample was designed in systematic-stratified manner, this method is framed within the Journalistic Role Performance (JRP) project. 1932 informative pieces were analyzed: 574 news in printed media, 488 news in TV media, 248 in radio stations, and 622 in online media. Coding was performed through a code book and application of analysis tokens created as part of the JRP project. The results displayed that the journalistic roles highlighted during Ecuador’s confinement were the interventionist, vigilante info-entertaining and civic ones. In the conclusions, a relevant fact is that despite of not having a predominant role, the presence of the info-entertainment over the civic and service role is relevant; i.e., the news about the pandemic were more emotional and sensationalist, mostly on TV. Likewise, more space was given to the journalist for its interpretation, which contributed more information from his/her subjectivity.


How to Cite
Benalcázar Calle, S., Viveros Aguilar, D., & Maza-Cordova, J. (2022). Journalistic Roles of the Media in Ecuador during the State of Emergency due to COVID-19. Anagramas Rumbos Y Sentidos De La Comunicación, 21(41), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.22395/angr.v21n41a3

Article Details

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Author Biographies

Diana Viveros Aguilar, Universidad Técnica de Machala

Magister en Comunicación de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso. Comunicadora social y Periodista. Docente de la Carrera de Comunicación de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Técnica de Machala, Ecuador.

Jorge Maza-Cordova, Universidad Técnica de Machala

Master en Diseño Multimedia y Máster en información digital, especialidad en usabilidad, diseño de interacción y experiencia de usuario. Profesor de la Carrera de Comunicación de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Técnica de Machala, Ecuador.