Journalism is undergoing times of change. Since the impact of digital technologies in media markets around the mid 1990’s, this profession has experienced fast and often sudden transformations.
This process has brought an increasing complexity to journalism exercise. In the middle of a pre-existing media scene of newspapers, radio, television and agencies, a new digital medium arises, mainly represented by the Web and mobile platforms. Media companies have also undergone a deep reconfiguration, marked by the redefinition of their traditional business models. Journalists, the main figures of the information activity, have witnessed how their profession has evolved in a context of a brisk replacement of technologies and a new and more interactive relation with the audiences. Finally, the news content has also experienced its own particular process of transformation, with the arrival of new multimedia languages.
Briefly, in just a few years, the media landscape has been entirely reconfigured. And, even though the process is far from being completed, it is certainly noticeable the emergence of a new journalism with new professional profiles, where the distinctive feature is, mainly, diversity.
In view of this new scenario, it is quite urgent to reconsider the academic research on journalism. In order to deal with the growing complexity of media, new approaches and specific methodologies become necessary. Furthermore, it would be definitely essential to do so from an international perspective, thus different research experiences could enrich one another.
These Proceedings gather the research works presented to the Conference “Diversity of Journalisms: Shaping Complex Media Landscapes”, held in Pamplona (Spain), the 4th and 5th of July, 2011. This event was co-organised by ECREA Journalism Studies Section and the School of Communication of the University of Navarra. In the case of ECREA Journalism Studies Section, one of the thematic units of the European Communication Research and Education Association, this was its second conference, after that one held in Winterthur (Switzerland), 2009. As for the School of Communication of the University of Navarra, this convention was the 26th edition of its International Conference of Communication (CICOM), the most veteran academic congress in the field of communication among all those hosted in a Spanish speaking country.
The Conference had a successful response. There were 133 papers proposals, from nearly 30 different countries from all five continents. Due to organisational purposes and inspired by the idea of reaching a high quality level of academic contributions, the number of papers accepted for presentations during the Conference was limited to 80. This selection was made by 30 international reviewers, with a recognized experience as researchers in the field of journalism and communication.
This volume is structured in three main parts: ‘Papers’, ‘Abstracts’ and a final ‘List of authors’.
The first part gathers 28 full text papers, submitted by authors to the Conference organisation before the deadline established for reception of full original texts. Papers are arranged alphabetically according to the last name of first author.
The Abstracts section is a compilation of the 80 paper proposals that had a positive evaluation by the international reviewers which collaborated in the selection process. Papers are sorted in alphabetical order according to last name of first author.
Finally, there is a list of contributors, which mentions all authors that submitted a paper, either individually or collectively, together with their academic filiations and the panel where the paper was scheduled to be presented. The reader will notice how in certain cases, the papers’ mentions are followed by the observation ‘resigned’; this note indicates that, days before the Conference, the author of such paper informed the organisation about his/her intention of not attending the event. Due to the particular difficulties of the editing process of these Proceedings, which have been published days before the Conference, it was impossible to remove those works that were finally non-presented.
On behalf of the Management Team of ECREA Journalism Studies section, I wish to thank, first of all, the School of Communication of the University of Navarra, for its valuable support to the organisation of this international event. We are also very grateful for the collaboration of ECREA which, through its academic networks, made possible the diffusion of the call for proposals for this event and favoured its significant international response. We would also like to give recognition to the generous and disinterested participation of the keynote speakers of the different plenary panels: Aidan White, journalist and former General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (1987-2011); professor Maxwell McCombs, Jesse H. Jones Chair in Communications (University of Texas at Austin, USA); Howard Tumber, editor of Journalism. Theory, Practice and Criticism (SAGE Publications); Concha Edo, editor of Text&Visual Media (Spanish Journalistic Society - SEP); Larry Gross, editor of the International Journal of Communication and president of the International Communication Association (ICA) in 2011-2012 (University of Southern California); and Ana Azurmendi, editor of Comunicación y Sociedad (School of Communication, University of Navarra).
Lastly, we would also like to express our thanks to two public institutions: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, which sponsored the Conference through the research project “Evolución de los cibermedios en el marco de la convergencia. Multiplataforma e integración periodística” [The Development of Spanish Cybermedia in the Convergence Context: Multiplatforms and Journalistic Integration] (ref.: CSO2009-13713-C05-03); and the Pamplona City Council, for the reception which was offered to the participants.
Ramón Salaverría, PhD
Chair of the ECREA Journalism Studies Section
