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Disinformation has become a core concept in communications research, related to media, technological and political phenomena that complexify its definition and diagnosis. Although its approach has been mainly quantitative, focus groups have also been used to understand the perception of the audience of this particular issue. This research is part of this second group of studies, and attempts to investigate the notions and discourses on disinformation in the case of Spain. For this purpose, seven discussion groups were conducted, with a structural sample constructed according to employment situation, ideology and age. The results show a perception of the communicative ecosystem structured in two chronological poles, which contrasts a past of reduced information supply – associated with traditional media – with a current informational environment where there is more media diversity, but also less trust in them. The groups point to the overabundance of information and associated disinformation with decontextualisation, low-quality journalism and the economic and political interests of different actors. Discourses outline a scenario of decline in journalism and the public sphere, which is perceived as polarised and emotional. Disinformation is therefore perceived as a multidimensional phenomenon that is associated with issues of major democratic transcendence rather than merely sending hoaxes through the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newspapers have been affected by a progressive loss of readership over the last decade, especially among those under 24 years old. This group continues to stay informed about topics of their interest, but through social networks. For this reason, the press has incorporated a playful, immersive, and participatory journalism based on technologies such as virtual reality or 360 videos. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of data obtained from eye tracking, and by subsequently performing semi-structured interviews, this research verifies the attention paid by Spanish and Portuguese university students to violent, immersive, journalistic content. Students' understanding and awareness of this informative material with violent events is analyzed. The capability of immersive journalism to capture the attention of the public under 24 years old and to raise awareness about social problems based on visualization of violent content is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opportunities offered by information and communication technologies have allowed many people to become political content creators. Usually, the produced content is not based on information made by professionals. The objective of this work is to analyze the relation between the tracking of political information in professional media and the production of political content in non-professional media. The study performs a secondary analysis of the data obtained by applying the statistical method to surveys published by the Spanish Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas between 2011 and 2016. Results show that there is a strong relation between the participation in blogs and forums and the use of the Internet to become informed about politics. It is also observed that there exists an association between the creation of political content and the tracking of programmes about politics on press, radio and television. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most significant changes in journalism over the last decade has been the participation of citizens in the information process, establishing various forms of interaction with professional journalists and the media. This development has established a new journalistic culture based on dynamic interaction with the audience that improved information processes in various ways. However, this active role of the audience can not substantiate the so called citizen journalism, because it lacks the necessary conditions to ensure quality information that secures constructive and civilized public debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdsourcing and crowdmapping tools such Ushahidi (testimony or witness in Swahili) give value to the communication chain. They allow individuals, institutions, and journalistic organizations to take advantage of the flow of information provided by the users, although the process is not without some difficulties. Ushahidi, based on free software, offers a broad range of applications to be used in media contexts. First, Ushahidi focuses on data through a participatory map of georeferenced information and then it addresses the verification of the information provided by the citizens. From the analysis of the bibliography and some study cases, we describe a specific area of collaboration between professional journalists and citizen journalists in the creation, distribution, and verification of content. International media which have used Ushahidi include The guardian, BBC, Al jazeera and Huffington post. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article do an approach to the impact of citizen activism during the earthquake of Ecuador on April 16, against the responsiveness of the mass media. The methodology considers the review of the activity of users on Twitter with two tools: Trendinalia and Twitter Reach, during 24 hours following the earthquake. First results indicate the importance of the user activity for informative production; however, Twitter, as an anarchic tool, it was evident the quantity of sources and much of the information was made about emotional issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perceptions of journalists who work in traditional media with an online version and journalists working in online native media about the advantages and disadvantages of digital journalism in realtion to conventional one are compared. Citizen participation in the informative processes is analyzed, as well as some ethical and deontological journalism principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]