In this text, Timothy Cook analyses political news from a point of view that considers media as a singular social institution. The production of news is understood as a collective process defined by the routines of journalism as an institution and by the choices implied in these routines that are accepted and reproduced in the everyday production of the news. The partial independence of news reporting relative to politics does not hinder, however, that the news function as a political and even governmental institution. Besides publishing political information, defining what is important and interesting; journalists give relevance political actors and certify their authority. The news is the result of conflicting relationships between journalists and sources, where the weight is balanced between official sources and the values inherent to journalistic routines.
political news; media; government; official sources; journalistic routines