News values and information producers in the digital media ecosystem: the case of National Road 2

Abstract

This article presents the results of an exploratory study that sought to assess which types of current news producers prevail in the digital media space and what distinguishes them in terms of the topics and newsworthiness criteria they value. Using National Highway 2 as a case study, we analyzed 152 publications - collected by Google Alerts - produced by journalists, newsmakers (the protagonists, subjects and sources of news stories, who now produce and publish content directly without the involvement of journalists) and ordinary citizens (who have also started to produce and publish content directly). We concluded that journalists continue to be the predominant producers (79.6%), valuing in their news the criteria of proximity and consequences and the topics of accidents, traffic and construction. Newsmakers (13.2%) pay more attention to topics related to tourism and leisure, and to the news values of identification and proximity. On the other hand, ordinary citizens (7.2%) publish more about means of transportation, landscape, tourism and leisure, valuing emotion and identification. In municipalities where there are no local news outlets (“news deserts”), current affairs information is provided, to a limited extent, by national and regional media outlets, which prioritize novelty, impact, consequences and proximity. In a context of blurring borders, journalists remain central to the production of current affairs — although they share space with non-journalistic actors who adopt, mimic or simulate journalistic practices.