Proposal and application of a framework to analyze the performance of journalists conducting electoral debates
Abstract
Beyond the undisputed importance that television debates have acquired in electoral campaigns around the world, this work is based on the fact that the role of journalists leading them and their incidence in the development and content of the debate has not been sufficiently studied. In the absence of a framework that allows comparing the performance of journalists in different countries, we propose a scheme of 30 indicators, grouped around four roles that a journalist may assume in a debate, according to the bibliography consulted (adversary, strategic, watchdog and civic). Applying this scheme to a sample of seven presidential debates that use the “journalists’ panel” format, the results show that the most substantial variation regarding the use of different role options to formulate questions is given by the position in the polls of the candidates participating.
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