Periodismo abiertoestrategias de comunicación participativas, transparentes y colaborativas

Résumé

This doctoral thesis approaches the study of Open Journalism, developed at the beginning of the 20th century as an application of the Open movement to the context of journalistic communication. This includes the philosophies of participation, transparency and collaboration that also contributed to define other movements, such as Open Source and/or Open Government, among others. Open Journalism is a trend that arose in the early century and still continues up to the present day, scarcely theorized by authors such as Deuze (2001), Bowman and Willis (2003), Gillmor (2005), Bruns (2009), Still (2011) Nikoltchev (2013), Sampedro-Blanco (2014), Aitamurto (2015, 2019) or Al-Ashry (2019). Their studies have been highly linked to other tendencies such as ‘Citizen Journalism’, ‘Participatory Journalism’ or ‘Civic Journalism’, but Open Journalism expresses its importance due to the close bond between it and the Open Movement. This linkage unfolds through the exploration of the free reuse of journalistic content, applying mechanisms of both transparency, participation, and collaboration in every production phase of the journalistic information. The framework in this doctoral thesis is divided into two separate blocks: a first section that theoretically addresses the concept of Open Journalism (established in chapters 0, 1, and 2) and a second part that both analyzes journalistic projects and interviews professionals (chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6), in order to appreciate the possibilities of the Open Journalism utilization. In the first block, which constitutes chapters 1 and 2, a theoretical review of the concept is carried out, from its appearance to its evolution in the current context. It is observed that, in spite of different authors having used the term ‘Open Journalism’ in their communication studies, there is still confusion with other related terms, and a few researchers have delved into this trend, setting it apart as a new way of doing, and thinking about, journalism. Therefore, in this block, the doctoral thesis scrutinizes the definition of Open Journalism as a new trend related to the Open Movement, suited to reformulate journalism over the appliance of mechanisms of transparency, participation, and collaboration. Within this journalistic trend, professionals understand journalism in a different way, and that allows the production of reusable content which can be improved by citizens or other media, as well as companies and entities. In addition, this section delves into three characteristics that frame this movement, in the context of a liquid Internet as we conceived it, within the liquid modernity proposed by the sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman (2003). In this, the participation of users related to the construction of journalistic information shall be seen from a double perspective, either emancipatory or exploitative, in which transparency is approached as a need to confront a journalism credibility crisis, specially in the context of disinformation, and in which media collaboration is shown more as an underexploited requirement than as an option for new media. The second block deals with the analysis of 117 innovative initiatives which are detected through the theoretical review and with a subsequent exploration for projects related to the attributes of Open Journalism. This examination allows us to define which of them, and through which mechanisms, is the most developed one. This shall contribute to establish a ranking of good experiences and look into them through in-depth interviews, as well as evaluate the possibilities and the real impact of the concept of Open Journalism in a professional environment. It is the intention of this doctoral thesis to address whether the media are familiar with the concept, if they show interest in its application and if they have an infrastructure capable of putting its characteristics into practice, in order to develop this new model in a context of sectoral crisis. Lastly, chapter 7 addresses the conclusions, and introduces a definition of Open Journalism that encompasses everything developed in this work. This chapter also determines how its application can help the profession in the current context, applying mechanisms that promote a new way of doing and thinking journalism. To that end, we propose a decalogue concerning Open Journalism and the development of the website www.periodismoabierto.com, with the aim of carrying out an informative work regarding this investigation, as well as openly expose the work accomplished, so that the journalistic and academic community may keep on building it.