Journalistic ethics and persuasive communication in the face of post-truth: credibility in the face of the challenges of Social Networks

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS16320222159

Keywords:

Post-truth, Disinformation, Fake news, Journalism, Social networks, Persuasive communication

Abstract

The issue of post-truth and the disinformation that goes with it poses serious risks to the ethical principles of journalism. In this sense, the work of journalists is essential to ensure the establishment of democratic societies and free citizens through their commitment to the truth of the facts. The processes carried out by certain political actors such as Putin in the war in Ukraine in 2022, Trump in the US elections in 2020, the multiplication of destabilising messages related to COVID-19 coming from countries such as Turkey or China, promote the urgency of rethinking the deontology of journalism professionals in today's information society. This work brings together the most recent research on the work of journalists in the current information landscape -especially in social media- and allows us to delimit transcendental phenomena for the development of quality journalism, such as post-truth, false information and disinformation, all of this in relation to persuasive communication and the emotional aspects inherent on many occasions to these processes of distortion and falsification of reality. The conclusions point to the main challenges facing the journalism of the future as it seeks to counteract the effects of post-truth, while analysing a business management model for news organisations that must necessarily be reinvented. The opportunities for improvement lie in the development of critical thinking, a firm commitment to professional ethics and investment in media literacy among users.

Author Biography

Lucia Ballesteros-Aguayo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Communication, University of Málaga (Spain)

Lucia Ballesteros-Aguayo holding a PhD in journalism, after successfully defending her dissertation on the press during the Franco dictatorship in Spain, for which she obtained a summa cum laude, Ballesteros-Aguayo is currently a professor at the University of Málaga, where she is also researching in collaboration with different international bodies, including the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (INDIRE) in Florence (Italy) and the DigiMedia Research Centre of the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She has completed several research stays abroad and has published a large number of works on the Marketing, Advertising, Disinformation and Media History, such as “Humour in the post-war press: Short stories of Gloria Fuertes in the Falangist magazine Maravillas” in Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, and “Traitors of the Homeland: The stigmatization of reds in Falangist discourse” in Peter Lang.

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Published

2022-09-30

How to Cite

Ballesteros-Aguayo, L., Ruiz del Olmo, F. J., & Gutiérrez-Lozano, J. F. (2022). Journalistic ethics and persuasive communication in the face of post-truth: credibility in the face of the challenges of Social Networks. Observatorio (OBS*), 16(3). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS16320222159

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 3 (2022)

Section

Articles

License

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