Ethics, human rights and violence in Chihuahua’s digital journalism. Evidence from a media observatory
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-09-2019-0035 |
| Published date | 02 January 2020 |
| Date | 02 January 2020 |
| Pages | 55-68 |
| Author | Armando Villanueva-Ledezma,Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo,Fidel González-Quiñones,Aixchel Cordero-Hidalgo,Jorge Flores-Flores |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Records management & preservation,Information repositories |
Ethics, human rights and violence
in Chihuahua’s digital journalism
Evidence from a media observatory
Armando Villanueva-Ledezma,Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo,
Fidel González-Quiñones,Aixchel Cordero-Hidalgo and
Jorge Flores-Flores
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Aut
onoma de Chihuahua,
Chihuahua, Mexico
Abstract
Purpose –This paper presents the findings of a project that aims to analyzethe ethical treatment of the
news, with special attentionto the reporting of violent events, as it is carried out by digital news outlets from
the State of Chihuahua(Mexico).
Design/methodology/approach –A media observatorywas established to collect and analyze the 9,115
news reports of violent events fromFebruary to June 2019 and was published by 12 digital news outletsin
Chihuahua. Quantitativedata analysis was carried out using three analytical axes–ethics, human rights and
violence. Each axis was,in turn, subdivided into three criteria, and this paper identifieshow compliant were
each news outletand individual news report with those criteria.
Findings –Data analysisestablished that 5,385 of the news reports (59.1 per cent of the total news analyzed)
met all the nine desirable criteria,whereas other subsets did not comply with up to a minimumfive criteria.
How the observednews outlets and their reports complied with the criteria used is specified in this paper.
Originality/value –The methodology used and the data analyzed seek to develop ethical and socially
responsible journalism.Hence, this paper offers variouspossibilities, such as raising new questions relatedto
journalistic deontology, helpsengage responsible journalists and also represents an area of opportunity for
library and information professionals who are immersed in digital environments (e.g. digital libraries and
library professionals thatare the ideal professionals to store, manage and disseminatethe records produced
by media observatories). Moreover, the data analyzed help to set a maximum limit for the non-compliance
with each of the criteria analyzed, which can even lead to the development of an ethical and social
responsibilityaccreditation that can be granted to newsoutlets with the best practices for journalism.
Keywords Ethics, Human rights, Violence, Digital journalism, Digital news outlets,
Media observatories, Chihuahua (Mexico)
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
An observatory can be establishedfor a wide variety of purposes, but despite its purposes, it
“monitors the evolution of a great diversity of social phenomena, events or situations”
(Beltrán, 2016, p. 78). In the case of media monitoring, it has become a tool for academic
research, marketing and institutional planning through the evaluation of media’s
informative behavior (Aceves,2004). For Castellanos (2010), media monitoring is imperative
The authors of this research would like to thank the Professional Teacher Development Program for
Higher Education (PRODEP) of the Government of Mexico and the Ministry of Public Education
(SEP) for the funding they granted to this project, according to the assigned folio UACH-PTC-385,
number 511-6/18-8538, from which this paper was derived.
Ethics, human
rights and
violence
55
Received25 September 2019
Revised24 November 2019
Accepted28 November 2019
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.36 No. 1, 2020
pp. 55-68
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-09-2019-0035
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