Journalists' Self-Perception of Their Profession in Spain: Analysis of Social and Technological Challenges

ABSTRACT

The influence of social and technologi-cal factors -from the shadow of disin-formation to automation and emerg-ing forms of journalism- redefines the role of journalism and its practices. Journalistic metamorphosis has not been traumatic, but it has been com-plex, leading to tensions, reflections and controversies. The challenges facing journalism during the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 are assessed with a focus on Spain. The research consists of a survey of 197 Spanish journalists and nine inter-views with prestigious academics and internationally recognized profession-als. Changes within journalism are ad-dressed in five major themes the role of journalism today;the relationship between journalism and politics;the incidence of bots and artificial intel-ligence;mobile journalism and social media;and emerging forms of jour-nalism. The results show that the role of journalism remains unchanged, but the pandemic has strengthened some of its functions. The influence of poli-tics in journalism is very prominent, as well as the concern about automation and misinformation. To face the fu-ture, high specialization is needed due to the fast technological evolution and the emergence of new techniques.