Ethos, image and organizational reputation in digital media: the Rede Globo's audiovisual discourse on YouTube

Abstract

Society, countries, chaps and organizations are going through an atypical moment in history because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlights the need to strategically propose local, regional and planetary solutions for phenomena that affect the health and the economy. In this context, the communication of organizations is driven by the frenetic circulation of content and meanings disseminated by digital media, a phenomenon that has changed - and continues to change - the modes of subjectivation, conversation and sociability, as it elevates the actors, the shares to infinity and the connections. This challenging environment constitutes a favorable territory for building relationships, but also foments of conflicts and reputational crises that may involve people, governments, institutions, brands, organizations, etc. Hence, the current scenario shows that the production of information and the building of relationships through digital media reflect on identity, image and reputation. We highlight the existence of a fine line that can become unfavorable through controversial and contradictory communicative actions, given that the contents are disseminated and subject to all kinds of evaluation by the inhabitants of the online ecosystem. The organizational performance must align ethical, transparent and coherent principles with corporate and public objectives, as well as paying attention to the rapid changes on the contemporary society. The monitoring of communication becomes a fundamental tool so that, given the fast connections made possible by the development of digital technologies and media, organizations can prevent and manage possible crises and conflicts. These theoretical-pragmatic scenario reinforce the nature of the Public Relations activity as a true sine qua non, as poorly planned speeches and strategies can trigger negative reactions when produced in a time of heightened social sensitivity. In conclusion, the scenario also points to challenges related to the surveillance of citizens, which cover issues related to security, integrity and privacy. Thus, the objective of this article is to analyze, discursively, based on the notion of ethos, two audiovisual utterances from Rede Globo de Televisao on its official Youtube channel, in July 2020, entitled: Globo - Qualidade tambem e respeito and Globo - Qualidade tambem e brasilidade. The methodological procedures correspond to bibliographic research, discussing themes such as digital media, public relations, identity, image, reputation and organizations, and principles of discourse analysis, discussing the production of meaning effects in images of the self (ethos) that can produce cognitive dissonance in the audience. We investigated surveys carried out and made available by the Public Relations consultancy entitled Edelman to understand the trust of citizens in the Brazilian media, which show that more than half of the interviewees distrust the mass media. We infer that ethical, honesty and truth issues become central to reputation due to the acceleration of mediatization processes, marked by interactivity, participation, and clashes, launching organizations into an ocean of vulnerability characterized by praise, boycotts and cancellations who place the strategic management of public relations as imperative in the face of reverberations and negative conversations about the image and reputation of organizations on the digital media.