Periodismo de calidad en tiempos de crisis: Un análisis de la evolución de la prensa europea de referencia (2001-2012)

Txema  Ramírez de la Piscina Martínez; María  González Gorosarri; Alazne  Aiestaran; Beatriz Zabalondo Loidi Beatriz Zabalondo Loidi; Antxoka  Agirre Maiora

doi:10.4185/RLCS-2014-1011

Authors

Txema Ramírez de la Piscina Martínez University of the País Vasco http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1071-7446
María González Gorosarri University of Berlin http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3890-8412
Alazne Aiestaran University of the País Vasco http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7070-501X
Beatriz Zabalondo Loidi Beatriz Zabalondo Loidi Universidad of the País Vasco http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7797-7264
Antxoka Agirre Maiora University of the País Vasco http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0470-936X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2014-1011

Keywords:

Quality journalism, news quality, news values, reference press, professionalism, press crisis

Abstract

The explosion of new technologies, the progressive implementation of the Internet, the massive use of social networks and the current economic and financial crisis have, along with other factors, provoked a drop in sales of the printed press in the western countries of the planet. This study analyzes the evolution of news quality in five European reference newspapers (Financial Times, Corriere della Sera, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Le Monde and El País) over a period between 2001 and 2012. Methodology. The research method used in this work has its roots in the concept of media performance developed by Denis McQuail (1992); which allows the use of transversal parameters to evaluate news quality. Results. The results indicate (n = 1,137) that the European reference press only just passes the test to which it has been subjected (5.39 out of 10). The average index shows a moderate downtrend which is not applicable to all the papers. Conclusions. All the analyzed newspapers appear to have forgotten about the social function which has historically been attributed to journalism as the guardian of citizens' interests. This is reflected in the poor results which all of them obtain in the section "social contribution of the news".

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Author Biographies

Txema Ramírez de la Piscina Martínez, University of the País Vasco

University Professor. Accredited in 2012 as a professor by ANECA (National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation). Accredited in 2010 as a full professor by the Basque Accreditation Agency (Unibasq). Head of the HGH Research Group officially recognized by the UPV / EHU (GIU 11/04) in 2011. Principal Investigator of a MINECO R + D + i project (CSO2011-23237). Graduated in Information Sciences in 1982. He worked as a journalist in different Basque media throughout the 80's. He has been a professor of Journalism at the UPV / EHU since 1990. Doctor in Journalism since 1993. Author or co-author of more than a dozen of scientific and popular books. The last one published in 2013 on Multimedia Communication. Among his most outstanding publications are “Gabinetes de Comunicación” (1995) and “Al filo de la (in) communication” (2002). Member of IAMCR (International Association for Media and Communication Research) and AE-IC (Spanish Association of Communication Researchers). Member of the Board of Directors of EITB, the Basque Public Radio Television since 2013. Participant in numerous national and international congresses. Author or co-author of about 60 articles in scientific journals. Visiting professor at the Autonomous University of Querétaro (Mexico) in 2001. Collaborator in Basque media such as Berria and Euskalerria Irratia. Special Mention Award from the Cuban Ministry of Science for his participation in the Santiago de Cuba Social Communication Symposium in 1997. From 1994 to the present, he has been or is PI Principal Investigator or participant in ten research projects on quality journalism, press and Basque conflict and audiovisual literacy of Basque adolescents. He has also cultivated other lines of research related to Communication Offices, Training of spokespersons, Journalism in Euskara or alternative Communication.

María González Gorosarri, University of Berlin

Postdoctoral researcher for the Basque Government at the Freie Universität (Berlin). She has a European Ph.D. in Communication (2011), author of the thesis Albisteen kalitatea (Research on Basque Media's News Quality), thanks to a pre-doctoral grant from the Basque Government. She graduated in Law (2001) and in Journalism (2004). She has made several stays at the Humboldt University of Berlin (2009, 2010) and at the Pompeu Fabra University (2011). She has worked as a journalist in different publications in Euskara (Argia, Aizu!, Anboto, Euskaldunon Egunkaria ...). She has been responsible for communication for various institutions (Topagunea Euskara Elkarteen Federazioa, UEU - Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea) and various events (1st Congress of Journalism in Euskara). She is the author of the brand “Albistetan” (blog, twitter and facebook). She collaborates with Euskadi Irratia. She has published books, articles and conferences as a result of her lines of research: quality of news, gender of communication and gender perspective in historical memory.

Alazne Aiestaran, University of the País Vasco

Alazne Aiestaran (Ermua, 1972). She has a PhD in Communication Sciences since 2007 from the UPV / EHU. She has been working at the University of the Basque Country for 6 and a half years as a professor in the Department of Journalism. Since October 2013 she is an adjunct professor (doctor's assistant). She is a researcher at the HGH Group (Media, Society & Education), a consolidated research group at the University of the Basque Country, Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication. She has participated as a researcher in several projects at the UPV-EHU: "Study of the supply of documentary information in the media: the Basque Country, Spain and main European experiences", "Health information in the Basque daily press (2000 -2010) ”and in the Educational Innovation Project“ Learning styles of students of biomedical careers. Improvement strategies ”. She was a researcher in the project "Proposal for the study of the image that the media offers of young people" carried out for the Basque Government. She currently belongs to the consolidated group HGH (Media, Society & Education) of the University of the Basque Country dedicated to researching the quality of European and Basque newspapers. During the 2007-2008 academic year, she was a professor at the University of Mondragón (MU) in the Department of Information and Communication. From 2010 to 2013 she has been a Member of the Advisory Council of RTVE in the Basque Country, appointed by the Basque Parliament. Likewise, she has been a member of the Qualification Court in opposition tests of the Basque public entity EITB. Since 2011 she has participated in the Editorial Board of the Journal of Communication Studies ZER. She worked as the director of a monthly publication that was published entirely in Euskara for 7 years.

Beatriz Zabalondo Loidi Beatriz Zabalondo Loidi, Universidad of the País Vasco

Technical engineer (1984), degree in Journalism (2003) and holder of the Advanced Studies Diploma (2005) from the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU). Postgraduate in Digital Journalism (Department of Journalism II), from the University of the Basque Country. She is finishing her doctoral thesis at the Faculty of CCSS and Communication of the UPV / EHU, on Audiovisual Translation in the Basque Country. She is a researcher at the HGH Group (Media, Society & Education), a research group officially recognized by the UPV / EHU (GIU 11/04). She participates in an R + D + i project of MINECO (CSO2011-23237). She previously, she professor at the University of Mondragón (MU) for 7 years, where she was Head of the Information and Communication Department. She has taught on Communication Theories, journalistic writing and audiovisual translation. She also teaches this subject at the UPV / EHU Postgraduate Course, called “Translation and Technology”. She has worked as an audiovisual translator for more than 25 years. She has also worked in print and television. Her most outstanding works belong to the field of audiovisual translation, reference works (dictionaries and encyclopedias) and that of journalistic style books: She is co-author of the four Style Books of the only newspaper in Euskera, Euskaldunon Egunkaria first and Berria later, among others. She has been a visiting professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE). She has been a member of the jury for several journalism and communication awards. She is a member of AE-IC, ICA, ATRAE and EIZIE. She is also the President of the Board of Directors of Grupo de Comunicación Berria.

Antxoka Agirre Maiora, University of the País Vasco

Antxoka Agirre Maiora has a degree in Law (2003) and a degree in Journalism (2008) from the Public University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU). He is a researcher and professor at the Department of Journalism II of the Faculty of Communication and Social Sciences of the Public University of the Basque Country. He obtained his Diploma of Advanced Studies (2010) with an investigation on the press in Spanish and culture in Basque, he is a member of the Hezkuntza Gizkartea Hedabideak (HGH) research group with which he investigates about Journalistic Quality, and also works on the subject of journalists' access to the Foreigners Internment Centers. He has published some work outside of Spain. He has worked in various media, and currently, in addition to teaching about Genres of Information and Genres of Opinion, he works as head of communication for the Itziar Herria Sortzen (IHS) association and director of the Bertsolari Aldizkaria publication.

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