**4. Analysis, commentary, and participation in television news**

During the virtual observation of the content of the five news programs, it was possible to identify some adaptations due to the course of a pandemic, which required measures of social distancing and sanitization of the equipment and spaces. All the interviewees clarified that there was a strict hygiene and distancing protocol in place from the beginning of the pandemic for those who remained working, in order to keep

#### *New Social Practices on Brazilian TV: Reconfigurations in News Production and Distribution DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113307*

the news programs on air. Professionals older than 65, pregnant women, and those with any comorbidities, because they were in the COVID-19 risk group, were removed from daily work through vacations, leaves of absence, and even negotiated layoffs and retirements. Some of those removed kept their activities remotely, as was the case, for example, of reporters Natalia Ariede and Andrea Sadi (both from Globo), commentator Miriam Leitão (Globo) and presenter Celso Freitas (TV Record), and commentator and Journalism director Fernando Miter (TV Bandeirantes), among others.

A good part of the news reports of all TV news programs researched are being prepared remotely, with rare exceptions, when there is a need for images from the street, broadcasters have had to adapt due to the technical quality, and develop strategies for the remote work elaboration, with the possibility of using applications such as *Skype* or *WhatsApp*, *Google Meet*, among others. The technical teams from all the stations were activated and began to have a greater workload due to the quality of the interviews and reports carried out remotely. Image editors in particular have suffered from the significant increase in work to edit audio and video produced *via* digital platforms, remotely. Some of the characteristics identified is the interviewee's point of view, which, in this circumstance, is no longer the one who responds to someone, but who responds to a camera/screen, as a result, at the time of the exhibition the interviewee's eyes, most of the time, are at the height of the viewer's eyes, causing a visual esthetic discomfort at first, but in the context and relevance it has become the "new normal" (emphasis added).

In addition to the mandatory use of masks in all environments of all stations and the disinfection of equipment and the frequent use of alcohol gel, the new social practices adopted, with the use of remote interviewing and reporting have proven to be as efficient as the face-to-face activities, with the possibility of continuing to be used even after the end of the pandemic. All those interviewed were unanimous in stating that this new technical possibility has been discovered, and it can continue to be used, even after the pandemic is over. In this new social practice adopted by TV journalism, there is an important issue, which is the reduction of travel costs to conduct an interview or report, and this can impact on a greater production of content. Some characteristics of the remote interview and reportage must be taken into consideration, such as the possibility of an interview becoming a testimonial, without the interviewer's control, because in some moments it is perceived that the interviewee sent a speech about the subject, and in the case of the reportage, the source sends videos about the subject of the story, which has no way of being checked on the spot. This is one more risk that journalism takes, and it depends on the suitability of the source and the interviewee, in order not to exhibit false news. All interviewees understood that this problem is and has always been a journalism challenge—to combat false information, but that in face of the strategies that have been adopted by all broadcasters, as shown in **Table 3**, such as the intensification of information checking with the creation of specific editorials and the participation in fact-checking pools.

All five TV news surveyed (Jornal da Cultura, Jornal da Record, Jornal da Band, Jornal Nacional, and SBT Brasil) promote the spreading of the news content also on social networks, with profiles on *Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok*, and *LinkedIn*, in a transmedia strategy that is willing to anticipate, reinforce, and unfold the news content to get closer to viewers and Internet users. The use of digital social networks happens through simultaneous live broadcasts of the content transmitted by the station, later availability of the content already aired, and also with calls before the news. There is the possibility of producing shorter content (according to the characteristics of each digital social network) that complements or unfolds the subject that was shown on television.


*Prepared by the author based on the interviews.*

*1 Available from: https://g1.globo.com/fato-ou-fake/.*

*2 Available from: https://www.sbt.com.br/jornalismo/comprova#noticias.*

*3 Available from: https://projetocomprova.com.br/.*

*4 Available from: https://www.aosfatos.org/.*

#### **Table 3.**

*Fact-checking editorials/partnerships.*

In general, all broadcasters use the same networks to spread the news content on the Internet (**Table 4**), the only exceptions are TV Cultura, which is the only one to use *LinkedIn*, and TV Record, which is also the only one to use *TikTok*. Besides the networks, the five researched networks and their respective news programs also have a specific page for each one of them, on their own platform or on platforms such as Uol, as is the case of TV Bandeirantes and TV Cultura. In a more in-depth analysis of this content spread over the web will be carried out to continue the reflections on the new forms of telejournalism spread over the internet as a way to engage the viewer, internaut, consumer, and prosumer.

As for the use of *LinkedIn*, which is a platform for professionals and deals with employment, the professionals from TV Cultura explained that due to the changes that occur in the network's virtual environments, the platform itself has changed its focus and is also encouraging a lot of content production. Only it is not just any content, each social network has its specific segment. In the case of TV Cultura, the platform is used for live broadcasts of special debate and interview programs.

*TikTok i*s a digital social network, which is becoming a fever in Brazil. The platform allows the creation of videos with the audio made available on its pages. One of its distinguishing features is the way the app is built, with a menu that shows the most popular hashtags of the moment, where videos of famous and non-famous people can be found. A little different from the other networks, on *TikTok* you can see videos of people you do not follow. Another interesting feature is the possibility of free sharing of the content produced and available on the platform. Perhaps these characteristics have contributed to Jornal da Record being the first news program in Brazil to create a profile in March 2020. With a casual content, the profile has already attracted the attention of more than 100,000 followers. According to Record's editor-in-chief, Patrícia Rodrigues, the result in terms of loyalty has been very positive, "we try to incorporate into this music that is being played more is that people are just dancing, we try to incorporate a little bit of news" ([22], verbal information).

Among the transmedia strategies adopted by the news programs of the five researched networks, besides the spread through the various networks, there are some initiatives of live broadcasting, as is the case of Jornal da Cultura, which broadcasts live the news on *YouTube* and *Facebook,* simultaneously, then the news content is available in full, for those who did not watch at the time of transmission and also, through summaries where the stories are published individually, on social networks

*New Social Practices on Brazilian TV: Reconfigurations in News Production and Distribution DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113307*


*Prepared by the author based on the researched data.*

*1 Available from: https://www.facebook.com/JornalNacional/.*

*2 Available from: https://www.instagram.com/jornaldarecord/?hl=pt-br.*

*4 Available from: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmpHPgeCBgvk\_fDXZQKsnAA.*

*5 Available from: https://www.tiktok.com/@jornaldarecord?source=h5\_m.*

*6 Available from: https://www.instagram.com/sbtjornalismo/?hl=pt.*

*7 Available from: https://www.facebook.com/sbtjornalismo/.*

*8 Available from: https://www.youtube.com/SBTjornalismo/playlists.*

*9 Available from: https://www.facebook.com/JornaldaBand.*

*10Available from: https://www.instagram.com/bandjornalismo/?hl=pt-br.*

*11Available from: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoa-D\_VfMkFrCYodrOC9-mA*

*12Available from: https://www.facebook.com/tvcultura.*

*13Available from: https://www.instagram.com/tvcultura/.*

*14Available from: https://twitter.com/jornal\_cultura.*

*15Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbjhJbyMPIk.*

*16Available from: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tv-cultura/.*

#### **Table 4.**

*Digital Networks and Platforms on the Internet.*

and also on the website of the station (through a publication with photo and text summary different from the story displayed on the news), as a way to make the most of the content produced, revealed Rocha [23]. Another strategy adopted by the network is a partnership with the news portal Uol. According to the multimedia director, this is a partnership, in terms of platform. Being that Uol has within its address a relevant content with credibility from TV Cultura. The partnership also includes the joint marketing of advertising and the cession of technological tools to TV Cultura.

Band's Jornal da Band has also been conducting this live-streaming experiment concurrently on the digital social network *Facebook* since 2016. In addition, the followers of the profile also receive a notification before the news broadcast. After the traditional time slot, all content is available on *YouTube*.

The other news programs (Jornal Nacional, Jornal da Record, and SBT Brasil) maintain the traditional broadcast *via* television but also make their content available on digital social networks, as is the case of SBT Brasil and Jornal da Record, which also make their content available on *YouTube.* The Jornal Nacional makes the content available on the G1 platform of the Globo group.

Viewer participation in the contemporary telejournalism of the five television news programs studied has been a concern for all involved in production, especially during the pandemic of the new coronavirus. All the news programs on their digital platforms have space for sending suggestions, and on the digital social networks, also

*<sup>3</sup> Available from: https://www.facebook.com/JornalDaRecord/.*

for comments and followers, which corresponds to a certain level of engagement that needs to be analyzed in further developments of this research. In fact, although all the news representatives have admitted that they monitor the comments and suggestions, none of them respond to them, in order to avoid possible polemics and, consequently, virtual wear and tear on the news programs' pages.

In fact, participation materializes more effectively in two of the news programs researched, Jornal da Record and Jornal da Cultura. In the first, the viewer's participation is materialized by means of a frame inside the news, where the specific weather forecast is elaborated for a viewer from some location in the country. In the second, when the comments sent by viewers are inserted in a strip at the bottom edge of the screen, with the identification of the viewer's profile, throughout the news and at the end when some viewers' opinions can be discussed by the commentators on the news desks. According to the multimedia director of TV Cultura, with the participation, the news team can get feedback from the viewers and this helps in the decisionmaking process.
