Theoretical construction and empirical analysis of the porosity of relationship between broadcasters and audiences in broadcasting in Brazil and the United Kingdom

Author(s)

Daniele Ferreira Seridório

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Artes. 2021-07-07.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Arquitetura. Artes. Comunicação e Design. Bauru
• Defense date: 2021-06-22
• Advisor: Danilo Rothberg

Abstract

Journalism faces, in the contemporary scenario, the challenge of opening itself to the public's scrutiny, maintaining its legitimacy and autonomy, particularly when we consider the journalistic activity of broadcasters maintained by the State in the context of arising demands over the role of public broadcasting in contemporary democracies. Openness can occur through the adoption of participation and accountability mechanisms that establish relationships with the public under different arrangements and complexities. In this context, we propose the concept of porosity of relationships between journalism and its audiences established by the dimensions of participation and accountability. This thesis investigated the relationships between public TV broadcasters and their audiences, founded by porosity mechanisms. We compare existing concepts and practices adopted in Brazil and in the United Kingdom, country recognized worldwide for innovative governance formats in public broadcasting. Through the methodology of content analysis of programming, documents analysis of guidelines and editorial codes, and semi-structured interviews with journalists, we characterize porosity mechanisms (practices, channels, and devices) used by 27 broadcasters. We analyse how such achievements can impact the creation and maintenance of values of social responsibility, innovation, and credibility in journalism. The results suggest that, in a regulated broadcasting system, broadcasters have better performance in porosity, and in poorly regulated environments, internal instances of accountability and self-regulation contribute to the establishment of porosity. The results also indicate that self-regulatory initiatives, expressed in an organizational commitment to porosity, are determinant for the quality of the relationships between journalism and its audiences, and that regulation tends to give sustainability to external bodies and internal accountability. Based on the results, we suggest porosity guidelines, that seems to be required in a context of searching for instruments capable of reversing the credibility deficit of journalism today and increasing competitiveness in the face of digital media (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/12913-1 - Innovation in broadcasting: instruments of responsibility as an incentive to foster the relationship between broadcasters and publics
• Grantee: Daniele Ferreira Seridório
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate