The Global Notion of Journalism: A Hindrance to the Democratization of the Public Space in Chile

Abstract

In the Chilean case, there has not been strong enough questioning on the relevance that a prevailing idea of journalism, one that has certainly become the global standard — along its professional practices, norms and values — may hold on the social reality of the country. Hence, the interest in identifying the basis of this constituent discourse is based in its use as the standard and legitimizing force for the professional practice in Chile. By discussing deontological codes and also interviews with community broadcasters in Valparaíso, Chile, this chapter identifies core components of what I call here Eurocentric conception of journalism that henceforth will be referred to as ‘Reporterística.’ In looking at the core components of such dominant model of reporting and journalism, the chapter first identifies the aspects that underpin the univocal conception of journalism that the chapter traces back to the European Enlightenment and the Independent movements, and then calls for a ‘situated’ perspective of journalism that considers other possible models of reporting other than ‘Reporterística’. The chapter argues that the discussion on media democratization and pluralism needs to address the very core of the constitutive discourses with which journalism came into being in Chile.