Digital Journalism in the Age of Computational Propaganda:Newsroom Adaptations, Fact-Checking Tensions, and Professional Identity Reconstruction

Resumen

Background: The intersection of computational propaganda, AI-generated misinformation, and platform-mediated news distribution has precipitated a fundamental transformation in the conditions of professional journalism. Digital journalists now operate in environments characterized by accelerated information cycles, algorithmically shaped audience attention, weaponized synthetic media, and structural institutional pressures that create systematic tensions between traditional journalistic values — accuracy, verification, independence — and the operational demands of platform-era publishing.

Objective: This study investigates how professional digital journalists in Latin American newsrooms perceive, adapt to, and develop strategies for navigating the challenges posed by computational propaganda and AI-generated misinformation, with particular attention to the implications for professional identity, ethical practice, and institutional organization.

Method: A constructivist Grounded Theory (GT) design was employed, drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews with n = 38 professional journalists and n = 14 fact-checking editors across 22 newsrooms in six Latin American countries (Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México, and Perú), supplemented by ethnographic observation sessions (n = 12 days across 6 newsrooms) and document analysis of newsroom protocols (n = 47 documents). Theoretical sampling continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were analyzed using constant comparison and the Straussian open-coding, axial-coding, and selective-coding procedure. Inter-rater reliability was assessed with Cohen's kappa (κ = .81 for category assignment).

Results: Grounded Theory analysis generated a substantive theory of Defensive Adaptive Journalism (DAJ): a professional response pattern characterized by three recursive processes — Epistemic Vigilance Intensification (EVI), Institutional Protocol Proliferation (IPP), and Identity Reanchoring (IR). EVI involves systematic cognitive and procedural escalation of verification standards. IPP involves the bureaucratization of verification through algorithmic tools and cross-institutional fact-checking partnerships. IR involves the symbolic and narrative reconstruction of professional identity in response to perceived epistemic threats from automated misinformation production. Across all three processes, structural tension between velocity imperatives (platform algorithmic distribution logic) and verification imperatives (journalistic epistemology) constituted the core generative conflict.

Conclusions: The emergent theory of Defensive Adaptive Journalism advances conceptual understanding of professional journalism under computational propaganda conditions beyond existing normative frameworks. The findings have implications for journalism education, newsroom organization, platform governance, and digital media literacy policy.

Resumen (Spanish)

Antecedentes: La intersección de la propaganda computacional, la desinformación generada por IA y la distribución de noticias mediada por plataformas ha precipitado una transformación fundamental en las condiciones del periodismo profesional. Objetivo: Este estudio investiga cómo los periodistas digitales profesionales en redacciones latinoamericanas perciben, se adaptan y desarrollan estrategias para navegar los desafíos de la propaganda computacional y la desinformación generada por IA. Método: Se empleó un diseño de Teoría Fundamentada constructivista, basado en entrevistas en profundidad semiestructuradas con n = 38 periodistas profesionales y n = 14 editores de verificación en 22 redacciones de seis países latinoamericanos, complementado con observación etnográfica (n = 12 días) y análisis documental (n = 47 documentos). Resultados: El análisis generó una teoría sustantiva del Periodismo Adaptativo Defensivo (PAD), caracterizado por tres procesos recursivos: Intensificación de la Vigilancia Epistémica (IVE), Proliferación de Protocolos Institucionales (PPI) y Reanclar de la Identidad (RI). La tensión estructural entre los imperativos de velocidad y los imperativos de verificación constituyó el conflicto generativo central.

Palabras clave: periodismo digital; propaganda computacional; desinformación generada por IA; verificación de hechos; teoría fundamentada; identidad profesional; etnografía de redacciones; América Latina; periodismo adaptativo defensivo; plataformas algorítmicas

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