Authoritarian globalization puts an end to journalistic neutrality
Now, we must make a choice: it’s democracy or authoritarianism. All other political options became secondary. This decision is placed before almost two billion voters who will participate in elections in 65 different countries, next year. The statement seems like an exaggeration, but the globalization of ultraconservative authoritarianism has polarized most electoral processes worldwide and made supporting the democratic system the only option for those who reject a return to outdated political practices.
Journalism and the press (1) play a key and irreplaceable role in promoting democracy because they are still the most important channels for transmitting information to the people. And also because the survival of both depends on the free flow of information, one of the foundations of the democratic system. In ultraconservative authoritarian regimes, journalism becomes synonymous with public relations and the press becomes a tool for propaganda and disinformation.
Many journalists and various press organizations have already opted for the democratic system, but the ideological polarization on the planet has started to demand a new role from the media. It has become essential to show people what a full democracy is because, in the popular imagination, it ended up being viewed as limited to holding elections and to the existence of political parties. A large part of the population has become accustomed to living in a system that claims to be democratic and anti-authoritarian, but tolerates distortions such as social inequality and uses disinformation tools to neutralize and hide divergent opinions.
New editorial strategies
Democracy is not limited to holding elections. There are many authoritarian regimes that promote periodic voting. Military coups in Latin America didn’t eliminate ritualistic elections. Monarchies also hold elections and some even tolerate opposition parties. But what far-right authoritarianism denies is the coexistence between different world views, unrestricted freedom of information, and respect for the rights of political minorities.
Journalism and the press, as envagelizers of democracy, occupy a strategic position in a situation of confrontation with ultraconservative authoritarianism, but both need to review their communication and information strategies. The current model based on the commercialization of news and political neutrality requires adaptation to the new circumstances created by the rise of authoritarian populist leaders such as Nayib Bukele, from El Salvador; Javier Milei, in Argentina; Jair Bolsonaro, in Brazil; Viktor Orban, in Hungary; Wladimir Putin, in Russia; Donald Trump in the United States; Giorgia Meloni, in Italy; and Marie Le Pen, in France, to mention just the best known.
The search for new editorial strategies is more advanced among North American researchers, such as Jay Rosen, from CUNY (City University of New York), author of the formula “not the odds, but the Stakes”, in an allusion to the journalistic habit of covering electoral campaigns as a “political horse race”. What Rosen meant is that instead of worrying about who will win or lose, the most important thing, for anyone thinking about democracy, is to clearly identify the political, economic and social consequences of candidate proposals, especially the ultra-conservative ones.
Margareth Sullivan, also an American and columnist for The Washington Post, goes even further when she states that journalism needs to overcome concerns about political equidistance when democratic issues are at stake. “We cannot be neutral, we need to be trustworthy”, she says in a text in which she strongly criticizes the concern of her North American colleagues in arguing about the age and gaffes of President Biden or prioritizing the mediatic performances of Donald Trump.
Teaching Democracy
The press and journalism lost their monopoly on the production and dissemination of current news to social networks, in a change that led to an increase in the responsibility of the media for explaining the causes and consequences of the data, facts and events reported. This responsibility justifies the concern of “teaching” democracy to readers, listeners, viewers and internet users.
Adopting democratic principles as an emergency paradigm in the selection and editing of news is not a move towards information militantism. On the contrary, it is trying to preserve the free flow of information that makes the existence of both journalistic activity and the press business viable. It involves, among other things, detailing how the ultra-conservative strategy of creating factoids and fake news works aiming to occupy as much space as possible in the media diverting public attention from people’s economic needs and defending diversity of information.
This information diversionary strategy finds digital platforms such as Facebook, Telegram and Twitter the ideal environment to proliferate, as shown by the electoral campaigns of Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Javier Milei and Nayib Bukele. The same resource will be used in next year’s elections, which poses several dilemmas for journalism and the press committed to democracy. Factoids, facts created on purpose to generate curiosity and controversy, attract more people’s attention and therefore have more financial value for those who publish them. Ditto for the most scandalous and bizarre fake news.
Faced with the prospect of promoting the preservation of the democratic system, journalism and the press assume the need to abandon political neutrality as a tool against ultraconservative authoritarianism. It is an option that places principles above immediate political and financial interests, which signals an unprecedented situation in contemporary communication.
(1) Journalism and the press are not synonymous. Journalism is the activity related to the investigation and editing of data, facts, events and ideas that are essential for people to make decisions. Press is a group of corporations dedicated to the dissemination and commercialization of journalistic news.
