Is it ethical for a journalist to reconcile the activities of the newsroom with those of the press office? An analysis of the Brazilian case

¿Es ético que un periodista concilie las actividades de la sala de redacción con las de la oficina de prensa? Un análisis del caso brasileño

Although Portugal has already overcome the debate on ethical issues related to the concomitant exercise of news report and press office activities by journalists, in Brazil the theme still raises controversy. If, in the Lusitanian country, the role of press officer is predominantly carried out by public relations professionals, while it is forbidden for journalists to work at the same time as a reporter and press officer, in “Tupiniquins” lands journalists can, without any impediment, to exercise the double journey. Our intention in this investigation is to present arguments to support the thesis that the conciliation of editorial activities and press services by journalists represents an ethical incompatibility of professional conduct. As a method of exposing reasoning, we used Weston’s theory (1996) and we divided our arguments into three types: authority arguments, arguments based in examples, and arguments by analogy.