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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]

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]

Citizen Journalism has questioned the value of the journalistic profession and it has been suggested that it gradually might replace it. This article summarizes part of the results of a Chilean research and analyzes the applicability of the concept "citizen journalism" from the viewpoint of the players. From 12 in depth interviews with people in charge of media that follow the phenomenon, and from 190 surveys to citizens enrolled in them, it concludes that it shouldn't be denominated as "journalism". It must be considered as a "citizen complement" to the informative panorama. It could be a contribution but not a substitute of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quick technological development registered on the Media in the past twenty years has specially affected its written aspects, although the main focus was on the audiovisual field initially. This brisk pace has taken place in the informative writting due to the intensive introduction of modern technology which has produced a relevant tools and methods convergency between fields previously apart, as were informative data and journalistic reporterism. Both fields have found and developped a convergence level reached thanks to the Cybernetic World, and even merge in the so called Journalism 2.0 or Citizen Journalism. In there data researchers and journalists use the same tools and methods through Internet. At the same time, multinational and multidisciplinary companies get together to form world wide corporations operating on database as well as on spreading journalistic reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]