The J Word 4.8: Combatting Digital News Threats

The J Word: A Podcast by Journalism Practice

For better or worse, digital technologies, with their offerings of platforms and personalities, have threatened traditional news media outlets in terms of their hold on authority, legitimacy, and money. Decades into this battle over digital terrain, our guests today discuss the continued challenges to online media of all types and focus on what’s been working – and what hasn’t – for new and old news media players.

Stefanie Silveira Professor in the Journalism Department at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, in Brazil, talks with us about a new wave of start-up digital news businesses in her country that are bringing new voices but are maybe not following traditional journalistic approaches to the news.

From Hong Kong, Mistura Salaudeen, who has just completed her Ph.D. in the School of Communication and Film at Hong Kong Baptist University, discusses how mainstream journalists continue to delegitimize citizen journalism and how that form, particularly in Nigeria, is struggling for credibility.

Lastly, Gregory Gondwe, an Assistant Professor in Communication Studies at California State University-San Bernardino, in the U.S., shares his work on conflicting sides of the story related to COVID-19 out of Sub-Saharan Africa where editors stood their ground for authoritative information on the pandemic, slighting the views of the citizenry.

Text Featured in this Episode:

Gondwe, G., Ferrucci, P., & Tandoc Jr, E. C. (2022). Community Gatekeeping: Understanding Information Dissemination by Journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journalism Practice, 1-17.
Salaudeen, M. A. (2021). From Personal to Professional: Exploring the Influences on Journalists’ Evaluation of Citizen Journalism Credibility. Journalism Practice, 1-24.

Saad, E., & da Silveira, S. C. (2021). New Online Journalism Businesses: Exploring Profiles, Models and Variables in the Current Brazilian Scenario. Journalism Practice, 1-18.

Produced and hosted by Robert (Ted) Gutsche, Jr.
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