Journalism That Promotes Human Rights and Wellbeing of the Vulnerable People

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically Article 27, recognises the right of everyone to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Therefore, vulnerable people, within this Human Rights framework, also have the right to access scientific evidence that affects their daily lives. In the current dialogic society, there is a growing recognition of the relevance of providing Scientific Evidence of Social Impact and, therefore, either science or journalism should be oriented towards co-creation and social impact, and thus improving the lives of citizens.

The present research is a case study of an online newspaper that has a vital role in the current dialogic society and whose mission is to give voice to human rights, wherever they may be, and to report on issues of global concern with a universalist perspective. This newspaper spotlights stories and topics of general interest, relevant to humanity as a whole, that resonate with the principles of equality, progress and inclusion, which can contribute to the wellbeing of the most vulnerable people.

Therefore, the aim of this research is to examine the impact of this newspaper on improving the lives of vulnerable populations through evidence-based news publications. To meet this objective, a mixed methodological approach has been followed. On the one hand, qualitative interviews were conducted with vulnerable people in order to know the impact of this newspaper on their daily life. On the other hand, Social Media Analytics was carried out with the aim of analyzing user interactions with the newspaper.

A key preliminary finding is that interviewed vulnerable people reported some improvements in their daily life due to the benefits obtained from the evidence-based news from this newspaper.