Labor organization and professional profiles of the new Spanish digital media created by journalists in times of crisis

Abstract

The digital transformation of the Spanish press has developed in parallel to a deep economic crisis leading to new ways of practicing journalism and redefining the professional profiles. The closure of 375 Spanish media since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008 has favoured the creation of digital media created and/or directed by the journalists themselves. In this study, 298 new digital media have been analysed to know if there are structural changes with respect to traditional media and whether they include new professional roles adapted to the possibilities offered by digitalization. The results indicate that most of the new media have opted for a pyramid organization reflecting the dynamics of traditional media and do not include professional profiles according to their digital nature. However, our results do not indicate that these functions are not performed, but perhaps the journalists with a traditional profile carry them out.