The Ethics of Paulo Freire Applied to Journalism: Analysis of the Coverage of the “Baby Thrown in the Rubbish” Case by Correio da Manhã newspaper

Abstract

This article is based on an analysis of the coverage of the case of the “baby lying in the trash” by the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã. From the content of the online reports on the case and based on Paulo Freire's essential ethical assumptions transposed to journalism, we seek to raise a critical reflection on sensationalism and its symbolic violence, which reinforces manicheism, stereotypes and inequalities in the media. Using an approach from Paulo Freire's text “The professional's commitment to society”, and with a quick passage through the concepts of Ethics of Care in journalism, we can reflect on the dilemmas of the journalist profession and its role in the information democracy in a perspective of care for the other. In this logic, care, respect and responsibility become a complementary dimension of information and work in journalism, which not only reconciles but expands the dimension of truth and objectivity, the journalist being a reflection and not a reflection of society.