"Attacks on journalists have become a growing concern in democracies around the world. Past scholarship suggests that such attacks could lead to a chilling effect of journalists self-censoring their reporting. However, there is limited empirical work that substantiates the effects of attacks on jour
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nalists. To empirically test the existence of chilling effects, this mixed-methods study uses the conditions of journalism under Jair Bolsonaro’s government in Brazil as an exploratory case study. We investigate how attacks (N = 901) and propaganda messages (N = 518,853) impacted news coverage (N = 20,998) in the first two years of Bolsonaro’s government, based on time series analysis and in-depth interviews with journalists (N = 18). Our results suggest that, despite the increase in government attacks, Brazilian journalists do not exhibit chilling effects; instead, they display what we call catalyzing effects. Our time series results showed that an increase in state propaganda leads to an increase in news coverage. Furthermore, our qualitative data affirms the concept of catalyzing effects. Findings from the interviews suggest that catalyzing effects operate as a form of resilience among journalists. Catalyzing effects do not necessarily manifest as more coverage, but as persistent coverage despite ongoing criticisms and threats (both social and physical). Our findings offer a path forward, highlighting the importance of bringing the discussion about violence and attacks against journalists back to the community of journalists experiencing this hostility. Network support, journalists said, has been crucial, which points to the need for a solidarity infrastructure that supports journalists’ constructive role in society.(Abstract)
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"En este libro, nos propusimos hacer un recorrido por estos intentos, emprendidos desde distintos frentes: redacciones, colectivos de periodistas, asociaciones de medios de comunicación, gobiernos o fiscalías. Y son los mismos periodistas los que cuentan cómo han sido estas experiencias. Este lib
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ro es producto de una serie de reportajes publicados entre diciembre de 2021 y julio de 2022 en el LatAm Journalism Review del Centro Knight para el Periodismo en las Américas de la Universidad de Texas en Austin." (Introducción)
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"Neste livro, propomo-nos a percorrer essas tentativas, realizadas em diferentes frentes: redações, grupos de jornalistas, associações de mídia, governos ou promotores. E são os próprios jornalistas que contam como foram essas experiências. Este livro é produto de uma série de reportagens
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publicadas entre dezembro de 2021 e julho de 2022 na LatAm Journalism Review do Centro Knight Center para o Jornalismo nas Américas da Universidade do Texas em Austin." (Introdução)
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"Latin American journalism has experienced recent transitions marked by digital affordances, including a growth of investigative journalism. The region has also experienced more political and economic instability, giving rise to a wave of threats and harassment against journalists. This repeated cro
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ss-sectional study analyzes the changing perceptions of threats and attacks as barriers to investigative journalism, through surveys of journalists from 20 Latin American countries conducted in 2013 and 2017. It performs intra-regional comparison utilizing the hierarchy of influences model. It found that women and those with fewer years of working experience (individual characteristics) were increasingly likely to perceive threats and attacks as a main barrier to investigative journalism. It also found that those working for digital platforms and working more independently (organizational characteristics) were also increasingly likely to perceive threats and attacks as major barriers." (Abstract)
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"This study analyzes ethical interpretations in the region’s investigative journalism community through a comparative analysis based on a survey conducted with journalists, journalism educators, and students from 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Our findings highlight the prevalence of a
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deontological perspective to ethics, with the majority of the respondents rejecting the use of soft-lies as investigative techniques. The study found, however, variability in ethical perspective within Latin America and Caribbean’s geo-cultural regions, with Central America and the Caribbean region leading in opposition and Brazil and the Southern Cone indicating more lenience toward controversial practices. When it comes to source-related controversial techniques, the journalism community in the region overwhelmingly rejects such practices." (Abstract)
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