Los desafíos éticos del periodismo en la era del big data: análisis de códigos deontológicos latinoamericanos

Abstract

Ethical Challenges of Journalism in the Era of Big Data: An Analysis of Latin American Deontological Codes Os desafios eticos do jornalismo na era do big data: analise de codigos deontologicos latino-americanos Investigative journalism, which is crucial to the proper functioning of any democratic society, faces numerous ethical challenges. The introduction of big data techniques has given rise to data journalism that presumes a new challenge in this sense. The main objective of the study is to analyze the existence of deontological guidelines on journalism and big data in Latin America, geographical area that has not been studied in that respect until now. To do so, content analysis was the methodology applied to a selection of 18 ethical codes adopted by associations of journalists in 18 countries to check if they comply with the principles established by authors such as Bradshaw, Ward, Singer, Dorr and Hollnbuchner, who adapt journalistic deontology to the specific context of big data. The results show the codes are poorly adapted to the ethical principles related to data verification. Instead, they are in line with what is considered to be a journalistic target (objectivity, honesty and public service) in the context of data journalism. It is also observed that, in general, the best adapted codes are those that have been approved or modified in recent years, such as the ones in Uruguay, Colombia and Chile, among others. It is concluded that it would be advisable to review the oldest codes and write specific codes or recommendations referring to big data, in addition to updating the supranational code of reference in Latin America: the Latin American Code of Journalistic Ethics, which dates from 1979.