Dear Colleagues,

To fulfill their social mission (i.e., informing) journalists have always needed media. Their activity is an essentially mediating one, even if (or especially when) new genres and environments hybridize information and entertainment, exploiting the opportunities provided by new technologies and digitalization.

Journalism has been changing throughout history, adapting to societal transformations. In today's globalized world, with the explosion of social networks and the emergence of new tools, the profession is (as it has always been) in constant evolution. Changes in technological, industrial, and social environments, such as artificial intelligence, metaverses, augmented reality, new business models, new communication platforms, increasingly affordable digital tools, the opportunities of web analytics and social networks, the need to deal with fake news, fact-checking, visualization, machine learning, and data journalism, also transform journalism. These phenomena pose new challenges that require adaptation and training to be confronted, without renouncing the watchdog role of a profession that was once called the Fourth Estate.

This Special Issue aims to debate, from different perspectives, how to face these demands and propose answers to these new challenges. Its content is linked to the XXIX conference of the Spanish Society of Journalism (SEP) that will take place in Barcelona on June 29 and 30, 2023.

The call for papers covers different areas, according to the thematic lines proposed by the organizers of the aforementioned congress. Authors are therefore invited to cover these subjects from various perspectives:

• New profiles and roles of journalism professionals.
• Business models of the new journalistic enterprise.
• Needs for the training of journalists.
• Journalists 4.0: from digital journalism to the metaverse.
• Artificial intelligence and journalism: the challenge of automation.
• Journalists facing disinformation and fake news.
• Personal branding and journalists: reporters or influencers.
• Brand journalists: from press offices to branded content.

Dr. Pere Franch
Guest Editor

Valentina Laferrara
Guest Editor Assistant

References

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García-Galera, M. C., Martínez-Nicolás, M., & Del-Hoyo-Hurtado, M. (2021). Innovation in university journalism education programs. A systematic review of educational experiences in Spanish universities. Profesional de la información, 30(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.may.07.

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• journalism
• media
• business models
• digitalization
• artificial intelligence
• disinformation
• branding