Between a cross and a sword: journalists and editorial control

Among the emblematic controversies of Journalism is the debate about the limits of editorial freedom granted by the journalism company to its professional staff. Going beyond the values that guide the idealised Journalism and understanding that journalistic organisations are, besides social actors, political actors and economic businesses with their own interests, Ester Athanásio discusses to what extent and how Brazilian journalists perceive the editorial orientation of the companies they work for and how certain decisions put in check the social role of Journalism as a representative of public interest, creating tensions between private interests and the discourse of legitimation of the journalistic practice as a democratic social action. On the one hand, the anguish and impotence of these professionals; on the other hand, the passivity in the face of ethical conflicts are demonstrated in a quanti-qualitative way, through a national research applied by the author and refined by other researchers within the Federal University of Paraná between 2013 and 2017.