Digital media in Chile: influence of the editor and the audience in the editorial meeting

Abstract

The research aims to evaluate how the journalistic routine of the editorial meeting in digital media has evolved in Chile in recent years. Specifically, we examined how the editorial meeting is developed, the role of the editor in it and the influence of the audience to select and rank the contents. We carried out a study of ten cases, which included a sample of the most read digital media in Chile. In-depth interviews were conducted with editors or directors. The main results, in general terms, point to a differentiation between multiplatform matrix media and digital native media. While the former have substantially modified their guideline-making routines in recent years, have less direct interference from the editor over journalists, and public responses strongly affect content selection, native digital media maintain a more traditional style of preparing their guidelines and news. Editors have a greater influence over journalists, editorial meetings tend to be held once a day and content is little conditioned by metrics and social networks. Although the study is a photograph of some Chilean digital media, it allows to conclude that the evolution of online journalism in Chile has been rapid, that greater importance is given to the editorial meeting, that the figure of the editor has been more outlined, and that the influence of the audience's feedback is increasingly important compared to a few years ago.