Dpto. Comunicación e Información Periodística

El objeto de este estudio es analizar cómo un producto ‘viral’ pasa a formar parte de los contenidos informativos en televisión, de manera que los criterios de noticiabilidad evolucionan y sitúan al mismo nivel los hechos de actualidad y los productos-tuits, memes, gifs o vídeos procedentes de las redes sociales. Para ejemplificar este argumento analizaremos el eco mediático del vídeo de la entrevista realizada el 10 de marzo de 2017 por la BBC al profesor de Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad de Pusan (Corea del Sur), Robert Kelly, coincidiendo con la destitución de la presidenta de Corea del Sur. Durante la entrevista, vía Skype, aparecen inesperadamente en la habitación unos niños y una mujer. En la investigación se estudia la aparición de este vídeo-noticia en las webs de cinco cadenas de televisión en España, así como su repercusión especialmente en YouTube, con millones de visualizaciones. La imagen fuente se replica en otros vídeos, se adapta localmente e incluso genera parodias a escala global. Asimismo, se generan debates sociales sobre roles familiares, sexismo y prejuicios socioculturales. La ‘viralidad’ influye en los criterios de selección periodística y en el caso estudiado la autorreferencia de la BBC se convierte en una fórmula de autopromoción independientemente del valor informativo. / The purpose of this study is to analyze how a viral becomes part of the television news content, so that the news criteria evolve and place current events at the same level than tweets, memes, gifs or videos- from social media. To exemplify this argument, we will analyze the media echo of the interview video made on March 10, 2017 by the BBC to the professor of International Relations of the University of Pusan (South Korea), Robert Kelly, coinciding with the dismissal of the President of South Korea. During the interview via Skype, two children and a woman appear unexpectedly in the room. The research studies the appearance of this video news on the websites of five television channels in Spain, also its impact especially on YouTube, with millions of visualizations. The image source, it is replicated in other videos, adapts locally and even generates parodies on a global scale. Social debates are also generated on family roles, sexism and socio-cultural prejudices. Virality influences the criteria of journalistic selection and in the case studied the self-reference of the BBC becomes a formula of self-promotion regardless of the informative value.

En estas páginas se presenta una reflexión sobre los retos y las oportunidades a los que se enfrentan los investigadores, los profesionales, la sociedad y los docentes en el campo de la ética de la comunicación y la deontología profesional: el periodismo, las relaciones públicas, la publicidad y la creación de contenidos de ficción y entretenimiento en medios audiovisuales. A partir del reconocimiento de los avances realizados en las últimas décadas, se identifican elementos clave que marcan el presente y el futuro de la investigación. La respuesta de la comunidad científica a la llamada a contribuciones bajo el lema “Ética, investigación y Comunicación: mirando hacia el futuro” permite identificar tres ejes fundamentales: instrumentos de autorregulación, nuevas tecnologías y valores, particularmente en el campo del periodismo. / A reflection on the challenges and opportunities faced by researchers, professionals, society, and teachers in the field of ethics of communication and professional ethics including journalism, public relations, and advertising. The creation of fiction and entertainment content in audiovisual media is presented. Describing advances made in the last two decades, key elements that mark the present and the future of research are identified. The response of the scientific community to the call for contributions under the motto “Ethics, research and communication: Looking to the future” for the present journal issue, identifies three fundamental axes: self-regulation instruments, new technologies, and values, particularly in the field of journalism.

Some experts consider that mass media are the citizen’s senses in those phenomena that they cannot experiment in person and, as the sociologist Dorothy Nelkin says, to the most of people, the Science that they know is which is conveyed by mass media. Therefore, the responsibility of journalists who work on Science is especially important, over all, in a more technical society, where scientific knowledge advances in a vertiginous rhythm and it is necessary to connect what C. P. Snow called the “Two Cultures”, one scientific and the another based on humanities. This multidisciplinary vision of reality with all its perspectives: scientific, political, economical, philosophical, legal and ethical or moral is essential when reporting on Bioethics, where multiple factors converge. It is difficult to overcome the challenges and questions formulated from the new scientific advances, especially those that take part in the first stages of the development of human life. For this reason in such a controversial topic as it is research on stem cell in the last decade, the role of mass media and the responsibility of the journalists in charge of covering this topic is vital, if we take into account that what the average citizen knows about it, a priori , is what the media tells to him. Besides, our interest in the communication of this issue emerges from its repercussions on human health knowledge and awareness, because people who suffer from Diabetes, Parkison or Alzheimer might expect these advances to bring about the definitive solution to their sufferings. And the parents desperate by the disease of their son or daughter will pay special attention to the news which create hope of recovery. Therefore, the journalist’s prudence and professionalism are transcendental to discern if his sources are biased or not and if they are creating or not false expectations. In the field of stem cell research, the most controversial issues have been embryonic stem cells, the direct intervention in the first stages of life. This has undeniable ethical repercussions because it involves the instrumental use of human beings from the very beginning of their existence. Thus, the ethical dilemma is really complicated: on the one hand, we have the possible instrumental use of a human being, and on the other, the possible check to the advancement of Science and the possibilities of treatment. Therefore it is important that, a meticulous, professional, impartial, and intellectually honest work by reporters, and over all, a work not conducted by the bias of their sources, present to the readers solid scientific and ethical arguments; something which is really complicated if we add the fact that this is a complex issue and journalists are working on current affairs. Looking for the truth, with this research, we aim to assemble a small piece in the complicated puzzle that these researches constitutes, to analyze, in a limited possibilities, the understanding of which has been the communication of research on stem cells in Spanish press with an approximation of which has happened in the political and scientific arena in the decade 1996-2006. The study has been divided in six chapters. In the first chapter, we present the bases of the public controversy of the topic connected to the theoretical framework of Science Journalism with special attention to the journalist-source relationship and with an approximation to the use of language in Biomedicine. In the second chapter, we revise the theory of Agenda-setting with special attention to the findings which connect this theory with science communication in general and communication of stem cell research in particular. This theory has been used recently as a method in Public Understanding of Science studies. We also include the last theoretical evolutions as agenda building, with the findings on science agenda with special attention to the existing legal contexts and to the discovering on stem cell in the last recent years. In the third chapter, we explain the main previous studies on this field. Taking into account these previous findings and the theoretical bases exposed, we formulate the aims and hypothesis of this work. The fifth chapter is dedicated to explain the methodology used: we start with a summary of the Framing theory, which is used in the study, and we finish with a detailed definition of the instruments used in the content analysis. In the sixth chapter, we expose the most significant results trying to interpret them as much as possible, and we extract the main conclusions of the research. At the end we have an appendix with a diagram of the embryo development, a glossary of scientific terms to clarify possible questions, a table with the arguments used by sources in the news with ethical frame that we have study specially in depth and a list of voices pro and con embryonic stem cell research that we have find in the articles. Finally, the bibliography with a section for journalistic sources and web sites consulted, and an index of tables and graphs included.

Análisis de la evolución del uso del hipertexto en la prensa digital española. Dos décadas después de la aparición de las primeras ediciones web de los diarios españoles, se estudia el grado de madurez, los cambios y las tendencias en el empleo de los enlaces semánticos. Para lograr este objetivo, se realiza un análisis empírico longitudinal retrospectivo de la utilización del hipertexto en la práctica profesional entre los años 2002 y 2016 a través de las hemerotecas digitales de seis cabeceras generalistas. El estudio de periódicos de referencia en la prensa española se complementa con medios locales, apenas tenidos en cuenta en las investigaciones sobre hipertexto hasta ahora realizadas. En total, se examinan 22.296 enlaces semánticos que aparecen en 4.620 noticias publicadas en portada y se estudian en profundidad los 4.830 vínculos incluidos en el cuerpo o relato informativo. / Analysis of the evolution of the use of hypertext on Spanish digital newspapers. Two decades after the first Spanish news sites, the authors studied the level of maturity of the use of semantic links as well as the most significant changes and trends when using these resources. To achieve this objective, a retrospective longitudinal empirical analysis of the use of hyperlinks is performed, covering the professional practice between 2002 and 2016. The research included six online news: three top-ranked national newspapers, and three local news sites, an area barely studied among researchers studying hypertext. The overall number of semantic links is 22,296, all of them included in 4,620 home-page news stories. 4,830 links appearing within the text body received an extensive analysis.

In recent years, there has been an increased emergence of studies focusing on the media coverage of the Paralympic Games. Until recently, studies have predominately used quantitative content analyses that, although providing useful interrogation of observational patterns, limits the understanding of and appreciation for the contexts that may have shaped the production of information. By focusing exclusively on the ‘what’ and on the ‘how much’ it is difficult to reveal the ‘why’ and to identify the underlying motives of any changes. This paper recognizes the nuances of the editorial decision-making process by using a mixed methods approach; employing quantitative and qualitative data drawn from a case study focusing on the Spanish media coverage of the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games. An initial content analysis of all news published in Spain’s twelve highest-circulation newspapers during Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games was undertaken. Subsequently, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with journalists that were also sent to these two iterations of the Paralympic Games by Spanish media. Drawing on conceptualisations of media framing, the results highlight that the numerical data alone shed insufficient light on the complexity of the news-making process. The semi-structured interviews brought to light issues such as editorial management buoyed by commercial imperatives, and organisational interjection in journalists’ narratives and authorship, that also contoured coverage and content. In addition to further debate about the complexities of media coverage of Paralympic sport, the study also underscores the utility of incorporating and combining qualitative methodologies within sport media and communication research.