Life story interviewing as research method in social communication. The case of women journalists in San José de Cúcuta (Colombia)

Abstract

Introduction: This article, which is the result of the research project titled “Women journalists, opinion leaders in San José de Cúcuta”, aims to implement the life story interview as a research method in Social Communication. Methods: The study is exploratory in nature and is based on in-depth interviews with six women journalists from local news media. The interviews contained 120 questions, divided in seven aspects: 1) Family and personal life; 2) Education; 3) Beginning of work life; 4) Exercise of the profession; 5) Opinion leaders; 6) Female opinion leaders and 7) Gender mainstreaming in Journalism. Results: The application of the selected method allowed us to approach the practices and routines of the female interviewees, identifying attitudes, roles and transformations in their exercise of journalism. Conclusions and discussion: The life story interview constitutes a methodological alternative for Social Communication and allows us to understand the problems of the border area from the perspective of communication.