Towards public competition in a pluralist polarized country: Professionals’ newsroom discourses on autonomy, public statements and regulation

Abstract

This study explores the interaction between journalists’ discourses on values and practices and the regulations affecting them in the shape of public statements, which are considered to be an influential variable in journalistic practice. However, the process of producing such statements requires further attention, in particular the role of newsroom discourses. The case of the Spanish public service broadcaster RTVE illustrates this tendency in relation to the regulations governing it and their impact on newsroom routines and newsmaking. Over the past fifteen years, RTVE has been subject to contradictory reforms, during which the discourses of TVE journalists have taken the shape of public statements issued by several professional associations calling for a reduction in RTVE’s traditional political dependence. Accordingly, the focus is placed here on the evolution of those discourses from 2006 to 2019, as to (1) the way in which they were transformed into public statements in persuasive campaigns with an influence on regulation, particularly as to the election of the executive board and chairperson of RTVE by public competition, and (2) the interaction and influence of core values such as professional independence and diversity on shaping newsroom discourses and public statements.