The fourth estate and values. Deon.pl portal in search of quality journalism

Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The research objective of this paper is to analyze the profile and selected content of the Catholic portal deon.pl in the context of quality journalism. THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND METHODS: The main research problem is to determine the facts related to the genesis, profile and content of the messages of one of the most popular Catholic portals in Poland. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The first part of the paper reviews the literature in the field of broadly defined criteria of quality journalism. Then, the profile of the deon.pl portal was presented, and in the following sections, the analysis of the content of the Deon FB profile and the deon.pl portal. RESEARCH RESULTS: All these materials were analyzed according to their subject matter, the nature of the message, the number of likes, political overtones and the program line of the portal. The titles of the deon.pl Facebook account reflect two thematic lines: the theme of the war in Ukraine and the theme of preparations for Easter. At deon.pl, an analysis of the texts in the tabs of the information and opinion sections was carried out. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Quality journalism is on the one hand “journalism of values” and on the other “professional journalism”. Manifestations of such journalism are visible in deon.pl. The Jesuit portal should be considered a manifestation of journalistic quality in Poland due to the clear values professed, and at the same time, transmitted by the editorial staff, as well as professionalism of work in accordance with accepted journalistic rules and high ethical standards, visible in the unambiguous separation of information from opinion. Deon.pl is an example of a Catholic portal with a successful attempt to combine tradition and journalistic news against the fake news tendencies.