Un perro que ladra, pero no muerde. El ejercicio profesional del periodismo argentino durante la pandemia del Covid-19

Martina Ferrero; Gonzalo Sarasqueta; Samantha Olmedo; Claudia Mellado

doi:10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.14236

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A Barking Dog that Never Bites. The Professional Practice of Argentine Journalism during the Covid-19 Pandemic

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.14236

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Published: Nov 19, 2024

Issue: Vol. 18 No. 1 (2025): Studying journalism in unstable contexts

Section Estudios (Studies)

Keywords: Role performance digital radio print television media

Authors

Martina Ferrero
Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina

Gonzalo Sarasqueta

Samantha Olmedo

Claudia Mellado

Abstract

The practice of journalism, specifically the role of the watchdog and the interventionist role, in Argentina during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, is analyzed. A set of 5,367 news items, produced by the ten media outlets with the greatest reach in the country, is created. To achieve a representative and complete sample of the media network, digital, radio, television and print media are chosen. A content analysis is carried out comprising three phases: i) pre-Covid-19, ii) mandatory preventive social isolation (aspo, Spanish for aislamiento social preventivo obligatorio) and iii) social, mandatory and preventive social distancing (Dispo, Spanish for distanciamiento social, preventivo y obligatorio). Argentine journalism plays a low-intensity watchdog role (31 % presence in the total news corpus), without significant temporal variation during the three stages mentioned, and the interventionist role is played with medium intensity (58,7 % presence in the total news corpus), also without significant temporal variation. The Covid-19 pandemic did not alter the journalistic practice in Argentina. Since the return of democracy in 1983, journalism has performed a limited investigation of power. A journalism that leans towards adjectivization, interpretation and the explicitness of the point of view is observed.

How to Cite

Ferrero, M., Sarasqueta, G., Olmedo, S., & Mellado, C. (2024). A Barking Dog that Never Bites. The Professional Practice of Argentine Journalism during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Anuario Electrónico De Estudios En Comunicación Social "Disertaciones", 18(1). https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.14236

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