Informar de modo qualificado: a finalidade central do jornalismo nas sociedades democráticas

This theoretical article discusses the central purpose of journalism in democratic societies, which is to inform in a qualified sense. The paper brings a mapping of authors about the role of journalism in informing, from the first known thesis on journalism in 1690. In addition, it points out that the role of informing is primordial in the discourse of media companies, journalists and readers when they define the duty of journalism in society. From the understanding that one cannot understand the purpose of informing as a finalistic process, it is pointed out that it is necessary to differentiate information from journalistic information. It is concluded that the information must have some attributes of quality, without which it would be invalidating to classify an information as journalistic. In order to be qualified, the information must be verified, relevant, contextualized, plural and engaging.