The Chilean media does not have policies or programmes regarding internal pluralism. It was clear from the interviews that journalists considered it was possible for them to express their ideas, while being aware of working in a place with specific editorial guidelines. They agreed on the fact that real value was in the notion of professionalism, being above personal convictions, keeping in mind that professionalism could mean different things in diverse contexts.
As mentioned earlier, editorial decisions are made in meetings where journalists can participate or, more generally, in dialogue with editors; therefore, it is the editor’s responsibility to create opportunities for deliberation.
The 2019 protests created a tense scenario within media organisations (see Indicator F5 – Company rules against internal influence on newsroom/editorial staff). There were different opinions between younger and older journalists, with the latter considering their younger colleagues as sacrificing their objectivity when covering the protests, turning into activists. At the same time, the younger group thought that certain directives – such as not focusing on police violence – compromised their journalistic ethics. As there was more than one way of understanding professionalism in the face of certain events, this accounted for internal pluralism in a polarised scenario becoming the elephant in the room for the Chilean media.
Meanwhile, recent research focusing on television stations (Saéz et al., 2020) concluded that internal pluralism was weak in Chile, with stations lacking programmes on opinions and debates, and diversity of sources and issues was scarce.
