84.3% of journalists rated the credibility of the media as very good, according to a study carried out by the Communication and Democracy Observatory (OCD).
The media of the Dominican Republic enjoy great transparency due to their adherence to the truth, credibility, responsibility and accountability, according to the interviewees in the study that was carried out between December 2022 and January 2023, through in-depth interviews.
The investigation highlights that the media constitute a first order way to strengthen transparency itself, within a legal framework to exercise the right of Access to public information.
In this sense, the president of the OCD, Rafael Núñez, during a press conference, explained that the majority of those interviewed (84.3%) considered media credibility between good, very good or excellent and that 11.1% of those consulted qualified it as “ bad”.
About the studies
The studies to address the issue and see other areas were two: “Assessment of the transparency of the media in the Dominican Republic” and “Socioeconomic labor situation of communication and journalism professionals in the Dominican Republic.” These were carried out by the OCD for the purpose of presenting the reality emanating from the sample used.
Regarding a quantitative vision, another survey was also carried out in parallel to find out the socioeconomic and labor situation of journalists and communicators, which showed that a third of the interviewees, corresponding to 30.25%, receive an average monthly income of less than 29,000 pesos, while 27.78% reported income between 29,993 and 59,985 pesos.
It also states that only 23.46% receive income between 59,986 and 89,978. Only 9.26% receive salaries that exceed $90,000 pesos.
Housing and health insurance
Regarding the reality of housing and health insurance only 43.83% said they own their own home and the remaining 56.17% live rented. While 78.4% said they had health and life insurance, the East region the one with the highest percentage with 100% of those consulted, while the lowest belonged to the southern region, with 67.8%. Similarly, it stands out that only 69.9% have some plan or pension fund.
Regarding having their own vehicle for their mobility, among the respondents from Santo Domingo and Cibao only 17% and 15%, respectively, answered this question as affirmative, while in the South and East regions it was barely 7% and 1 %, respectively.
As a way to show the labor reality of journalists and communicators, the study reveals that 17.3% work between one and four hours, 37.7% from five to eight hours, 2.6% from nine to 12 hours, and 15.3% more than 12 hours a day.
65.7% of those surveyed were men and 34.3% women. While the majority (39%) have been working for more than 20 years and 85.80% belong to a union or group of journalists.
Most of the interviewees (36.26%) work in digital mediafollowed by those who work in television (22.14%), radio (19.85%) and newspapers (15.27%), indicates the study.
The sample points of the investigation were constituted by the journalists, communicators and technicians of the OCD. The sampling method was non-probabilistic, carried out for convenience, based on the knowledge of the members of said organization.
Regarding the academic preparation of those consulted, 63.58% have training in social communication; while, in Santo Domingo, 20% have a bachelor’s degree, the proportion in Cibao is 14%, 7% in the South and only 1% in the East. Santo Domingo also shows the highest percentage of journalists and communicators with a master’s or specialization level (13%).
The sample It was 162, equivalent to 46.7% of the 354 members of the OCD, with a method of data collection by digitized questionnaire.
Núñez was accompanied by the directors of this observatory, including Luis Ramírez, Gladis Abreu, Maikel Alix, as well as researchers Igor Bucarelli and Julio Peña.