Empreendimentos digitais no jornalismo: novos modelos de difusão de conteúdos noticiosos e inserção no mercado

Abstract

The journalist practice has undergone many transformations in the past years, mainly because of the media convergence processes and the newsroom integration, as pointed out by Canavilhas (2014) and Salaverria (2008). Nowadays, the scenario of digital journalism is characterized not only by new ways to disseminate content but also by an emerging venue to build viable business models. Given that, the present study has as the main goal to analyze the Nexo Newspaper platform, contextualizing it within the new Brazilian journalism digital business framework. It is relevant to refer that many of those digital newspapers were created as a way to overcome the unemployment faced during the financial crisis, by journalists who used to work in traditional media. For that reason, another objective of this study is to identify characteristics of digital native initiatives trying to understand to what extent they emerge as new ways for journalists to re-enter the labor market. The research followed an interdisciplinary approach, and the methodology was based on a mapping of the so-called independent innovative Brazilian journalism, using as a case study, the Nexus Newspaper. From November 2017 to January 2018, the public Agency was mapped in order to track the new digital enterprises of Brazilian journalism. This process led to a final sample of 69 websites analyzed, resulting in five relevant information (categories of analysis): state of origin, year of creation, content type, business model, and tools used. In what concerned the case study, a descriptive analytical content analysis was carried out, aiming at understanding the website operation and the tools used, such as newsletters and the podcasts. Results show that, although most sites are configured as socio communicative practices, they are mainly concentrated on the axis Southeast-South regions of the country. In addition, most of those businesses still rely on more than one funding model to be able to maintain and produce segmented content. Considering the analysis of Nexo Newspaper, created in 2015 under a subscription model, it was observed that even if making efforts to overcome the traditional journalism practices, they are still applied, mainly in what concern content creation. Even considering the fact digital processes turned possible innovative tools, there is still a potential which remains underexplored, especially regarding the establishment of stronger links with the public, as for example the low level of engagement evidenced through the Facebook analysis, based on Recuero (2009)’s assumptions. Another relevant observation is the important role played by Nexo as an articulator of the digital business scene, and their relevance to journalistic curation through its newsletter. In this sense, the present study contributes to the literature by describing the changes in a market which future shows to be imprecise. The study also shed light on how, over the years, the journalistic scene has changed when taking into consideration that nowadays journalists may be able to manage their own businesses.