I’m very happy to begin my research stay at the Università degli Studi di Milano (Italia).

During June and July 2018 I will work with Sergio Splendore in our project “Journalism in Mediterranean and Latin American countries: So far so close”:

This study uses the impressive data collected by the Worlds of Journalism Study Network, comparing journalist’s role perceptions in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain – for the Mediterranean countries – and Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Mexico – for Latin America – to better understand the possible similarities and differences between the two regions. The samples used represented the population of journalists in each country. To identify journalistic populations, the consortium considered journalists all professional actors occupied full time or almost full time with the collection, description, and publication of relevant information in journalistic media.

The work aim is twofold: firstly, descriptively studying which kind of role perceptions those different journalist cultures seem to embrace.  For this study, we follow the most recent and established literature on the field as Hanitzsch (2011), Hanusch & Hanitzsch (2017), Berganza et al. (2017), Oller et al. (2017), among others. Hanitzsch and Vos (2017) summarize the wealth of studies on journalistic roles in four different perspectives: regard to normative ideas (what journalists should do), cognitive orientations (what they want to do), professional practice (what journalists really do), and narrated performance (what they say they do). We focus on cognitive orientations, about what journalists want to do (or at least, what they say they want to do), and even more precisely, what they say to do via a pre-filled questionnaire. For the nature of the data, we cannot discuss any other relation but that one. Therefore, this work analyses four different roles perceptions: the “monitorial”, the “interventionist”, the “collaborative” and the “populist” role.  The monitorial role refers to the journalists’ importance of the role of providing political information, monitoring politics and business, and motivate people to participate in politics. The interventionist role also assigns an active role to the journalist, as they are found to advocate for social change, influence public opinion and set the political agenda, and support national development. In the collaborative role, journalists find it of importance to be close to politicians, as they support government policy and generally convey a positive image of political leaders. The last role takes business factors into consideration, as it is important for the populist role to provide news that attract the largest audience, as well as provide entertainment and relaxation and advice, orientation, and direction for daily life.

For a correct understanding of the professional roles of journalists, secondly, we analyse the combination of role perceptions and countries in terms of journalistic autonomy. Journalists’ autonomy is one of the most important and frequent issue within journalism studies. As John Merrill (1974) has argued autonomy in journalism is also linked to the idea of authentic journalism. Nevertheless, a hallmark of professionalism around the world, autonomy’s core insistence is that of self-rule without interference; it works on the collective level to create a normative bulwark against interference from external influences (Carlson, 2017). The study therefore investigates which variables appear to be influent on the journalists’ perception of autonomy. Following Hughes et al. (2016), we argue that editorial autonomy is situational, contextually dependent, and historically contingent, but that a comparative effort as the one we are proposing could underline some of those contingencies. The overall results suggest that the autonomy perceived by journalists appear to be linked both to macro level (Freedom of the Press Index, Corruption – CPI indexes) and micro leve (e.g.: exactly which perceptions journalists keep of their profession).

 

Como parte del proyecto “Análisis Orgánico Multinivel de la Cultura Periodística de Ecuador”, estamos llevando a cabo el primer mapeo de los periodistas en el país. En una primera fase, Oscar Espíndola y un servidor estamos sistematizando y ubicando geográficamente a los periodistas en el país según su perfil.

Muestra de ello son los mapas que se exponen a continuación:

Between 28 and 30 May, the IV WJS Convention was celebrated in Prague with the aim of preparing the 3rd wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study (2020-22).

The Latin American group was represented by Sallie Hughes, Julieta Brambila (Mexico), Jesús Arroyave (Colombia), Adriana Amado (Argentina), Rosa Berganza (Spain), Carlos Arcila (Venezuela), Dasniel Olivera (Cuba), Mariana De Maio (Paraguay) and me (Ecuador). In addition, we count on our team with Matias Ponce (Uruguay), Summer Harlow (Guatemala), Sonia Moreira (Brazil) and Mireya Márquez (Mexico). And, come more …

Del 23 al 26 de mayo de 2016 se celebró el XXXVI Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Estudios Latinoamericanos (LASA 2018) denominado “Estudios Latinoamericanos en un Mundo Globalizado” en Barcelona, España.

En el hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar tuvo lugar el panel “Periodismo cubano: tensiones, ajustes y continuidades” el viernes 25 de mayo a las 10:45am:

Chair: Sara Garcia Santamaria, Annenberg School for Media and
Communication

La Cultura Periodística de Cuba a debate. Sistema de puertas:
Martin Oller Alonso, Universidad de La Habana

Miradas introspectivas: los periodistas cubanos y su profesión:
Jennifer Veliz, Havana University

La adecuación estratégica en el desempeño de periodistas en la
prensa no oficial en Cuba: Abel Somohano Fernández,
Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México

¿Cómo y por qué construir un medio alternativo en la Cuba de
hoy? La experiencia de La letra corta a cinco años de su
fundación.: Eduardo Pérez Otaño, Universidad
Iberoamericana

Enlace para descargar la presentación:

PRESENTACIÓN LASA, Barcelona 2018

The past 24 May 2018 the Preconference “Media and Governance in Latin America: Towards a Plurality of Voices” was held in ICA 2018 (Prague, Czech Republic) in Hilton Prague. This preconference was organized by Julieta Brambila, Sara Garcia Santamaria, Ximena Orchard and Jairo Lugo-Ocando.

On this occasion, María Cruz Tornay and me presented “Towards a journalism-other: journalistic cultures in Latin America within the framework of the decolonial turn”

Abstract:

The investigation on journalistic cultures in Latin America have evidenced a remarkable influence of the communicational and journalistic paradigms coming from the United States and Europe. From the educational field, the academic curriculum taught in social communication careers privileges the study of the academic currents of the North against Latin American critical thinking schools, which obviously influences the construction of common senses in the collective of future professionals of journalism.

The displacement of local knowledge in the field of communication and its impact on the construction of the journalistic cultures of the “peripheral” countries should be understood within the framework of the critique of the coloniality of power that has been taken as a locus of enunciation by various Latin American authors to explain the power relations that had their origin in the Spanish conquest, but that survived the processes of political independence of the colonized territories. Through this same process and within the framework of the coloniality of knowledge, Social Sciences became the channel for the legitimization and imposition of Eurocentric epistemologies and knowledge as a paradigm of development and modernity, as well as the social and cognitive experiences of the colonized peoples became “primitive” and “underdeveloped” (Castro-Gómez, Guardiola and Millán de Benavides, 1999).

The so-called “decolonial turn” (Castro-Gómez, Grosfoguel, 2007) is the bet for an epistemic decolonization and the construction of a heterarchical thought that we consider opportunely should enter into dialogue with the analysis of journalistic cultures in Latin America for rethink the paths towards “journalism-other” in the context of the new communicational scenarios that are aspired to consolidate in the region.

Link to download the presentation:

PRESENTACIÓN ICA 2018 Periodismo-otro

 

PROGRAM

ICA 2018 Preconference Media and Governance in Latin America: Towards a Plurality of Voices Thursday, 24 May 2018, Hilton Prague #MediaGovLA; #ICA18

8.45 Welcome and Coffee Break Julieta Brambila, Sara Garcia Santamaria, Ximena Orchard and Jairo Lugo-Ocando

9:00-10:10 Panel 1: Media, Governance and Democracy
Chair: Jairo Lugo-Ocando (University of Leeds) Presenters
Sallie Hughes (University of Miami) Democracy and the Press: What Happened in the Third Wave?
Beth Pearson (University of Glasgow) Measuring and Explaining Plurality Across Democratisation: The Case of the Anti-Impunity Campaign in Uruguay
Caroline Avila Nieto (Universidad del Azuay), Angélica Abad (Universidad de Cuenca) and René Esquivel (Universidad de Cuenca) Polarization versus Pluralism. A challenge for Ecuadorian Media System
Dasniel Olivera (Universidad de La Habana and Universidad Iberoamericana) Sistema Mediático Cubano: Apuntes Históricos en Perspectiva Hacia el Siglo XXI
Ximena Orchard (Universidad Alberto Hurtado) and Juan I. Venegas-Muggli (Universidad Tecnológica de Chile) Media Pluralism, Local Governments and the Allocation of State Advertising
Julieta Brambila (Universidad de las Américas Puebla, and Center for Media at Risk, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania) The Rise of Journalists’ Resistance Movements in Mexico

10.10-11.20 Panel 2: Technology, Politics and the Media
Chair: Tabita Moreno Becerra (Universidad de Concepción) Presenters Florencia García-Rapp (Pompeu Fabra University) An Austere Politician Who Fights Against Corruption: Facebook Comments to Argentinian Governor María Eugenia Vidal
Alicja Fijalkowska (University of Warsaw) Facebook and the 2018 Political Campaign in Costa Rica
Verónica Sánchez Medina (Hamburg University) Moving Backwards in the Digital Age: From a Civic Oriented Newsroom of Vanguard to an Authoritarian News Organization in Mexico
Liriam Sponholz (CMC/ Austrian Academy of Sciences and Alpen-Adria Universität), Roseméri Laurindo (FURB, Federal University of Blumenau) and Vanessa Eskelsen (FURB, Federal University of Blumenau) Plurality of Voices in the Era of Uncivil Societies: Political Incivility and Online Misogyny in the Case of Dilma Rousseff on Facebook
Matias Ponce, Independent researcher False promises of electronic government: Active Transparency Index in Latin America 2017
Alejandro Cárdenas López (Universidad Iberoamericana and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) National Elections in Mexico, Peru and Colombia (2012-2016): Use of Facebook as a Political Communication Strategy

11.20-11.50 Guest Speaker
Rafael Obregon, Communication for Development Section (UNICEF) Communication for Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Latin America

12.20-13.30 Panel 3: Journalistic Practices in Latin America
Chair: Caroline Avila Nieto (Universidad del Azuay) Presenters
Anne Natvig (Volda University College and the University of Oslo) Diverging Ideals of Autonomy in Cuba
Martín Oller Alonso (Universidad de la Habana) and Mª Cruz Tornay Márquez Towards a “Journalism-Other”: Journalistic Cultures in Latin America within the Framework of the Decolonial Turn
Mireya Márquez (Universidad Iberoamericana) and Sallie Hughes (University of Miami) Explaining Support for Democratic Roles in a Challenging Environment: Modelling Journalistic Role Conception in Mexico
René Jara Reyes (Universidad de Santiago de Chile) Soft and Hard News: Detecting Patterns of Sources Use in the National and Regional Chilean Press
Abel Somohano (Universidad Iberoamericana) Roles y Desempeño Profesional de Periodistas de Medios Independientes en Cuba
Jesús Arroyave (Universidad del Norte) The Autonomy of Colombian Journalists in Contexts of Social and Political Violence

13.30-14.40 PANEL 4: Communication at the Margins
Chair: Paola Sartoretto (Södertörn University) Presenters Federico Subervi (University of Leeds) Decolonising Media Studies in Latin America: Why we need [Urgently] a Research Agenda for Puerto Rico
Francesca Belotti (Universidad Nacional de Quilmes) Los medios indígenas en la Argentina de la Ley 26.522 de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual
Leonardo Custodio (University of Tampere) and Paola Sartoretto (Södertörn University) Comparative Approach to Voice-Raising Initiatives in Rural and Urban Social Movements in Brazil
Ana Cristina Suzina (Université Catholique de Louvain) Seeing and Being Seen: Conceptions and Issues of Representation in Popular Media Practices
Roy Krøvel (Oslo Metropolitan University) Against “Inclusion”- Indigenous Communication and Autonomy

14.55-15.25 Guest Speakers
Flor Enghel (Jönköping University) and Martín Becerra (Universidad Nacional de Quilmes) Latin American Communication Research in Dialogue with a High-Impact Academic Journal: Lessons Learnt and Future Strategies

15.25-16.30 PANEL 5: Technological Development and Social Change
Chair: Flor Enghel (Jönköping University)
Presenters Sara García Santamaría (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania) Digital Media in Cuba: Deliberation, (un)Civility and the Internal ‘Other’
Celina Navarro Bosch (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Luisa Martínez-García (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Latin American Cyberfeminism: A Struggle to Make Violence Against Women Visible
Constanza Gajardo León (Universidad de Concepción) and Tabita Moreno Becerra (Universidad de Concepción) Young Chileans’ Voices: The Fabric of their Listening Practices while Consuming News
Carmen Beatriz Fernández (Datastrategia and Universidad de Navarra) Reto Solidaridad: ¿Puede la Tecnología Ayudar a Construir Capital Social?
Magdalena Saldaña (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) Commenting on Disaster: News Comments as a Representation of the Public’s voice

16.30 Closing Remarks
Silvio Waisbord (George Washington University)

 

The second edition of the book “Journalism in Latin America: Journalistic Culture of Ecuador” presents two new chapters, a review, update and graphic improvement of the analysis of the journalistic culture of Ecuador as representative of the Andean region and Latin America.

The book is structured in three parts. In the first of them (chapters I, II and III) the concept of Journalistic Cultures and its implications to the communication and studies in the area is developed and an approach to the concept and the reality of the journalistic culture characteristic of Latin America as a region is carried out. The second part of the work (chapters IV to VII) begins with the location and contextualization of our object of study, the journalistic and communicative reality of Ecuador. This theoretical basis will allow the reader to reach the third part of the book (chapters VIII to XV) with sufficient conceptualization and context management to delve into each of the dimensions of the journalistic culture addressed.

 

INDEX

Introduction

PART I:  Journalistic Cultures

Chapter I: Journalistic Cultures

Chapter II: Journalistic Culture of Latin America

Chapter III: From where Journalistic Culture of Latin America comes, where it is, and where it [should] go

PART II:  Journalistic Culture of Ecuador

Chapter IV: Journalistic Culture of Ecuador

Chapter V: Public Policies in Communication and Media System

Chapter VI: Professionalization of Journalism and Professionalism of Journalists in Ecuador

Chapter VII: Communication in Ecuador, funda- mental right or Public Service?

PART III:  Journalistic Culture of Ecuador Project

Chapter VIII: Conceptual Framework

Chapter IX: Methodological Framework of contextual analysis

Chapter X: The perception of the influence factors of Ecuadorian journalists

Chapter XI: The self-perception of professional roles of Ecuadorian journalists

Chapter XII: The idea of objectivity of Ecuadorian journalists

Chapter XIII: The ethical guidelines of Ecuadorian journalists

Chapter XIV: The perception of professional auto- nomy of Ecuadorian journalists

Chapter XV: The trust levels in institutions of Ecuadorian journalists

Conclusions

References

Annexes

Sergio Splendore (Università degli Studi di Milano) and me presented the paper “Journalism in Mediterranean and Latin American countries: So far so close” at the Annual conference of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SACMR) 2018 Conference in Lugano, Switzerland (12-13 April 2018) NEXT-DOOR GIANTS. Exploring Media, Languages, Cultures and Borders in Switzerland and Europe hosted by the Faculty of Communication Sciences, USI-Università della Svizzera Italiana.

You can download an abbreviated version of our presentation in this link: Presentation Lugano_12April_Martin&Sergio FINAL