The journalist between the profession and the newspaper's interests: values and routines in the production of Folha De S. Paulo’s Editorials

Notwithstanding journalistic editorials may evidence conflicts and
negotiations involving public and private interests, their production process is little
investigated in Brazil. The article examines the values and routines typical to the
work of Folha de S. Paulo’s editorialists to find out how they construct newspaper’s
positions. By applying Content Analysis to three in-depth interviews, we propose four
thematic axes regarding the features of journalistic editorials: Political and marketing
roles; their target audience; production routines; and editorial values of the newspaper.
The results indicate that editorialists exercise limited autonomy, striving to fit the
positions historically defended by the publication. Such a condition is seen as natural
by the interviewees, with no record of tensions between their individual opinions and
newspaper’s positions.