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Critical educommunication: education, dialog, and public policies

Santos Albardía, Mayte; AGIRREAZKUENAGA ONAINDIA, IRATI; Peña-Fernández, Simón

Abstract

This article analyzes the dialogic–critical potential of educommunication to foster critical thinking. On the basis of interviews with experts and questionnaires sent to 141 Education and Communication students at UPV/EHU, analysis using NVIVO identified four key areas: conceptualization, critical educommunication, humanistic potential, and public policies. The analysis highlights the urgency of integrating critical media competencies into educational curricula by implementing public policies and teacher training. We conclude that critical, dialogic, and reflexive educommunication is essential to transform the relationship with the media and prevent information disorders.

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Educação & Realidade, Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2175-6236146104vs02 1 OTHER THEMES Critical Educommunication: education, dialog, and public policies Mayte Santos AlbardíaI Irati AgirreazkuenagaI Simón Peña-FernándezI IUniversidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Bilbao/Bizkaia – Spain ABSTRACT – Critical Educommunication: education, dialog, and public policies. This article analyzes the dialogic–critical potential of educommunication to foster critical thinking. On the basis of interviews with experts and questionnaires sent to 141 Education and Communication students at UPV/EHU, analysis using NVIVO identified four key areas: conceptualization, critical educommunication, humanistic potential, and public policies. The analysis highlights the urgency of integrating critical media competencies into educational curricula by implementing public policies and teacher training. We conclude that critical, dialogic, and reflexive educommunication is essential to transform the relationship with the media and prevent information disorders. Keywords: Educommunication. Critical media literacy. Critical thinking. Dialog. Public Policies. RESUMEN – Educomunicación Crítica: formación, diálogo y políticas públicas. El artículo analiza el potencial dialógico-crítico de la educomunicación para fomentar el pensamiento crítico. A través de entrevistas a expertos, cuestionarios aplicados a 141 estudiantes de Educación y Comunicación de la UPV/EHU y el análisis de los datos con NVIVO, se identificaron cuatro áreas clave: conceptualización, educomunicación crítica, potencial humanista y políticas públicas. Se destaca la urgencia de integrar competencias mediáticas críticas en los planes educativos mediante la implementación de políticas públicas y la formación docente. Se concluye que la educomunicación crítica, dialógica y reflexiva es esencial para transformar la relación con los medios de comunicación y prevenir los desórdenes informativos. Palabras-clave: Educomunicación. Alfabetización Mediática Crítica. Pensamiento Crítico. Diálogo. Políticas Públicas. Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 2 Critical Educommunication Introduction Recent years have seen a fascination with technology (MedinaBorges, 2021) that focuses on learning to comprehend and use new technology at both the user and the consumer level. However, the importance of offering tools to citizens to enable critical use of digital technology has been neglected, despite its abliity to facilitate learning and nurture the development of critical thinking (González-Mohíno; Callejas Albiñana; Castillo Canalejo, 2023). In the education sector, the widespread use of technology opens new avenues but also leads to certain gaps resulting in exclusion (Teba Fernández, 2021), leading to a need for critical coexistence. This study investigates what we call the humanistic potential of educommunication and how it can, and should be, conveyed through educators and supportive public policies to generate critical thinking on the use and consumption of digital technology and media. Although the term “educommunication” began to circulate in academia in the 1980s, its appearance as a paradigm dates back decades. Since the middle of the twentieth century, a field at the intersection between communication and education has developed specifically in Latin America, with theoretical and methodological approaches linked to its own social and cultural context (Trejo-Quintana, 2017). The concept of educommunication was constructed by figures such as Mario Kaplún (2001), Paulo Freire (1967), Martín-Barbero, and Prieto Castillo (Toth; Mertens; Rodrigues Makiuchi, 2012) as a field based on critical action, promotion of dialog, and the link between education and communication as tools for social transformation, laying the foundation for the construction of the educommunicative field as a “systematic search for the autonomy of the word” [“búsqueda sistemática de la autonomía la palabra”] (Soares, 2009, p. 197). Educommunication originated in the movements of popular communication and critical pedagogy developed in Latin America and is structured around a permanent dialog between communication and education (Soares, 2011). Moreover, it also implies a civic commitment, seeking to strengthen critical autonomy, active participation, and the exercise of democratic citizenship through conscious and transformative use of media and communication technology (Gozálvez; Contreras, 2014). Educommunication is based on a recognition that all communication implies an educational intentionality (Gué-Martini, 2020). Latin America has seen the most contributions related to the critical perspective of educommunication (Aparici, 2010) in both formal and informal educational environments. In the field of educommunication, two main strands can be identified: firstly, the English-speaking approach, which prevails in Europe (being identified as media literacy or media education) and focuses on education in and with the media from a technical and technological perspective; and secondly, the Latin American perspective that emphasizes a critical reading of communication through a political, cultural, Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 3 Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga; Peña-Fernández and social lens (Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga Onaindia, Peña-Fernández, 2023). Despite their differences, these two currents have now converged to form a dialogic, critical, and participatory conception of educommunication (Bermejo-Berros, 2021). Meanwhile, information and communication technology and digitalization have continued to develop, with dizzying growth in recent decades (Aguaded; Civila; Vizcaíno-Verdú, 2022), leading to a certain obsession with achieving excellence in their use. Smartphones have become an almost omnipresent part of human existence, and their excessive or inappropriate use can lead to serious problems such as “changes in the subject's behavior and capacity for self-control” [“cambios en la conducta del sujeto y en su capacidad de autocontrol”] (Roig-Vila; López-Padrón; Urrea-Solano, 2023, p. 36) if the large amount of information received via such mediated messages is not managed adequately. One can thus say that digital literacy for handling technology has become quite widespread. However, it is necessary to go beyond just operational use of devices to establish a technosocial perspective (Martínez Bravo; Sádaba Chalezquer; Serrano-Puche, 2021). There is a need to expand media and digital literacy along the critical dimension to provide citizens with tools and give meaning to the human–technology links created on a daily basis. The educational environment is considered to be a fundamental space in which to address these issues (Mesquita-Romero; Fernández-Morante; Cebreiro-López, 2022). Technology education, which often focuses simply on how to use devices but is rarely implemented in a coherent or comprehensive manner (Buckingham, 2020), should take the opportunity to provide a structure to think critically about their use (Kellner; Share, 2007). The communication–education binomial reaches its greatest potential when combining digital and critical media competencies, thereby helping to address the infodemic scenario in which we find ourselves (Sánchez-Reina; González-Lara, 2022). There is therefore an urgent need to return to the social technology of critical dialog to mediate our relationship with the technology, devices, and media that now permeate our daily life. This is not a question of being a technology luddite, but rather ensuring that its use by the population favors the development of human and educommunicative skills (Freire; Guimarães 2013). Likewise, this is a matter of “taking advantage of the potential of technology for our own purposes and according to our cultural, scientific, and technological characteristics” [“aprovechar el potencial de la tecnología para nuestros propios fines y de acuerdo a nuestras peculiaridades culturales, científicas y tecnológicas”] (Orozco, 2000, p. 108). For all of the reasons mentioned above, we use the term “critical” together with the concept of “educommunication” in response to the need to differentiate this critical perspective from the more instrumental meanings of media literacy or media education that focus solely on the inclusion of technology in the classroom and in society at large. This study thereby adopts an approach that promotes the analysis of Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 4 Critical Educommunication power relations conveyed through the media, the questioning of hegemonic discourses, and citizen education in information and communication technology from a critical perspective. To achieve this, the study gathered and analyzed voices from the fields of literacy, media education, and educommunication at the national and international level, as well as the perspectives of students in the Education and Communication Department of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) to discuss urgent issues discussed in the educational agenda of international organizations such as UNESCO (2024) but not necessarily being enacted appropriately in educational environments. Methodology The general objective (GO) of this article is to discuss the potential of educommunication from a dialogic–critical standpoint, as a solution to provide citizens with tools that can generate critical thinking with the help of educators, the main axes of critical media literacy. In addition, the specific objectives include: SO 1. To determine the differences and commonalities among various concepts used to designate the common area of education and communication, namely educommunication, media and information literacy, and media education. SO 2. To analyze the obstacles to and key points regarding critical educommunication and media literacy. SO 3. To define the requirements and key agents so that educommunication or critical media literacy can be implemented in higher education. To achieve these objectives, this study adopts a qualitative approach to both data collection and analysis. For data collection, in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with experts in the field and a diagnostic questionnaire was applied to students in the field of Education and Communication at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Discourse analysis and content analysis were used to analyze the data collected. In-Depth Semistructured Interviews The in-depth semistructured interview method, described as “a communicative process of information extraction in a research context” [“un proceso comunicativo de extracción de información en un contexto de investigación”] (Vallés, 2002, p. 43) was chosen owing to its suitability for the topic and its ability to answer the questions posed above. The interview, being based on the “art of speaking and the art of listening” [“arte de hablar y el arte de escuchar”] (Sierra Caballero, 2019, p. 318), enables not only the collection of explicit information but also the observation of nonverbal codes, highlighting the fundamental role of the interviewer in the construction of the observed reality. The number of interviews was determined by following the principle of theoret- Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 5 Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga; Peña-Fernández ical saturation (Glaser; Strauss, 1967), which is reached when new information relevant to the research stops emerging (Guest, Bunce Johnson., 2006), because “the information collected is surplus in relation to the research objectives. That is, new interviews do not add anything relevant to what is already known” [“la información recogida resulta sobrada en relación con los objetivos de investigación. Esto es, nuevas entrevistas no añaden nada relevante a lo conocido”] (Vallés, 2002, p.68). For this study, seven experts from the area of educommunication and critical media literacy were interviewed, coming from different regions, including North America, Latin America, and Spain (Table 1). Table 1 – Inerviewees Name Institution Dr. Ignacio Aguaded Professor of Education and Communication at the University of Huelva, President of Grupo Comunicar, a veteran group in Spain in media literacy. Dr. Jesús Bermejo Berros Professor of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the University of Valladolid Dr. Mónica Bonilla del Río Professor and researcher at the European University of the Atlantic, whose doctoral thesis targeted media literacy and educommunication Dr. Sherri Hope Professor and researcher at Temple University, where she is director of the Center for Media and Information Literacy (CMIL), and also vice-president of the Global Media and Information Literacy Alliance Dr. Douglas Kellner Distinguished Professor and Research Fellow in Education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Dr. Jeff Share Professor and researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and lecturer in the Teacher Education Program and Education and Information Studies degrees at UCLA Dr. Julio César Mateus Associate professor and researcher at the Faculty of Communication of the University of Lima Coordinator of the research group in Communication, Education, and Culture (CEC-IDIC) and director of the academic journal Contratexto Source: Authors’ own creation. The interviews, conducted online and digitally recorded, used common questions with some adaptations (Table 2). Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 6 Critical Educommunication Table 2 – Questions asked to the interviewees Questions common to all interviewees Specific questions according to interviewees 1. On the basis of your academic experience, how would you define the concept of educommunication? 2. What would you say is the relationship and differences between the concepts of educommunication, media literacy, and media education? 3. Some studies carried out on educommunication in recent decades speak of the predominance of two main aspects: the more technological facet of educommunication and that focusing on a critical reading of communication and the possibility of generating critical thinking through educommunication. Do you agree with this division? Would you propose any nuances? 4. What would you say is the current situation of educommunication in your country? What is its current state, and what aspects would you highlight in contrast to the global situation? 5. Several authors affirm the need to reinforce the dialogic dimension of educommunication. What do you think is the current situation of this in your country? What do you think is necessary to reinforce the dialogic dimension of educommunication? Should changes be made at the political level, at the individual level, or at the level of teaching itself? 6. What do you think would be a possible solution to a scenario in which the use of technology or mediated education is reinforced, but not necessarily education mediated by dialog? How could media education, designed to encourage critical thinking and not exclusively technological skills, be strengthened? 7. Where do you think work on educommunication should begin? In primary, secondary, or higher education, so that future teachers can transmit these competencies to the student body? 8. In your opinion, do you think there has been any considerable change in teacher training in media education, in terms of overcoming the exclusively technological paradigm, in recent years? 9. Do you consider that educommunication is present in educational curricula? Do you think it is feasible for it to be implemented as a subject in undergraduate curricula? 10. Do you think it is possible to implement practical tools based on critical dialog as a tool for future teachers? On the basis of your experience, do you think that media dialog Dr. Jesús Bermejo Berros 14. In your work, you talk about the dialogic–critical method to foster narrative thinking and you work with children between 6 and 11 years old. Why did you choose this audience? Have you worked with audiences of other ages, and how has that worked? 15. You work by differentiating groups, applying conversational dialog with some but critical dialog with others. Have you ever combined these to evaluate the differences before and after? 16. You work with fictional content. Have you ever worked with content about reality and news events? 17. Do you think it would be beneficial to apply the dialogic–critical method in educommunication with future educators, so that they can implement it in their teaching work? Dr. Douglas Kellner 14. In your work “Critical media literacy, democracy, and the reconstruction of education,” you affirm that educommunication has the potential to redirect the educational process toward social transformation and raising awareness of the existence of a society based on gender, race and class inequalities, and discrimination. How would you say this works? 15. Do you use your Critical Media Literacy Framework with future teachers, who are studying to become educators? Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 7 Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga; Peña-Fernández can be a useful tool and has the potential to foster educommunication skills? 11. Do you think there is a fascination with technology in society? 12. What distinguishes an educommunicator? What are the competencies that make an educator or communicator become an educommunicator? 13. Is there any information you would like to add to this conversation? Dr. Jeff Share 14. In your work “Critical media literacy, democracy, and the reconstruction of education,” you affirm that educommunication has the potential to redirect the educational process toward social transformation and raising awareness of the existence of a society based on gender, race and class inequalities, and discrimination. How would you say this works? Source: Authors’ own creation. The coding of the interview data followed a hypothetico-inductive model (Hernández Carrera, 2014), collecting all relevant facts, analyzing them, and reducing the information to categories (Corbin; Strauss, 2008) and codes designed with the support of NVIVO software. The interpretation was based on discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2010), facilitating the understanding of how language, in conjunction with other nonverbal elements, participates in the configuration of social activities, identities, relationships, and power structures (Gee, 1999). Likewise, the critical discourse analysis approach was adopted, highlighting its ethical dimension and capacity to reveal the connections between language and power, considering the essential context in the construction of meanings (Gee, 2004). In addition, qualitative content analysis was employed, “Defined as a research method for the subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identi-fying themes or patterns” (Hsieh; Shannon, 2005, p. 1278). Group Diagnostic Questionnaire To complement the consistency of the data extracted from the interviews, a group diagnostic questionnaire was applied to 141 people in total. The questionnaires were answered by future educators and journalists who were students of the Journalism, Social Education, Early Childhood Education, and Primary Education degrees at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). All the groups were homogeneous, formed of students under 35 years of age, but with diverse demographic profiles, ensuring a minimum of 50% of people who selfidentified as female gender, to ensure a gender equality threshold. Data collection was carried out at the Faculty of Education (Araba, Gipuzkoa, and Bizkaia campuses) and at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication (Bizkaia campus). Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 8 Critical Educommunication The sample size was determined by applying a statistical formula with a reliability level of 99.9%: n = appropriate sample size N = universe (657, the average number of students enrolled in the degrees the participants were studying). Z = reliability level (Z= 2.57, to obtain a reliability level of 99.9%) N n = ------------------------ (0.5 . 0.5)2 (N − 1) 1 + --------------------- Z2. 0.5 . 0.5 This gave a required sample size of 25.43 participants, far fewer than the 141 included in this work. To apply the questionnaires, participants were invited to access an online questionnaire designed using Google Forms, which contained 3 open and 20 closed questions. The questionnaire was used to structure and capture collective perspectives and was a useful tool to identify initial patterns for analysis. Being applied before the discussion process, the questionnaires sought to understand young people’s prior notions regarding educommunication, literacy, and media education and whether these form part of their higher education studies; as well as to determine how they use, consume, and build relationships with the media. Results NVIVO software was used to facilitate the organization and coding of the data for qualitative analysis, identifying four major themes and eleven codes (Fig. 1). The first theme was the conceptualization of terms used at the intersection between education and communication, where we identified codes, definitions, and differences between the concepts. The second theme, viz. critical educommunication, includes codes related to critical thinking, the curriculum, the absence of critical education, fascination with technology, and disinformation. The third theme deals with the humanistic potential of educommunication in terms of the codes for dialog, the role of the educommunicator, and teacher training in critical educommunication. Finally, the fourth theme includes a single code addressing public policies as a necessary solution. Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 9 Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga; Peña-Fernández Figure 1 – A schematic of the themes and codes of analysis Note Translation: CONCEPTUALIZATION Definition and lack of awareness of concepts Differences among concepts PUBLIC POLICIES: A NECESSARY SOLUTION CRITICAL EDUCOMMUNICATION Critical thinking Curricula Absence of critical education Fascination with technology Disinformation THE HUMANISTIC POTENTIAL OF EDUCOMMUNICATION Dialog The role of the educommunicator Teacher training in educommunication Source: Authors’ own creation. Conceptualization The first topic deals with the definitions and differences between the concepts that describe the field combining education and communication. The interviewees agreed that a diversity of terms are used, depending on the context and the organizations and institutions concerned. The need for all definitions to include criticality as a central axis of educommunication to foster democracy and address social problems was emphasized, as well as integrating both technological and sociocultural factors, without being limited to any one of these. Furthermore, it was stated that focusing exclusively on a discussion of terms might hinder the practical implementation of educommunication, so a critical and reflective coexistence between the communicative–dialogic and technological–digital aspects is urgently required. The analysis of the student questionnaires revealed that 25.53% of those surveyed were not aware of any of the terms “educommunication,” “media literacy,” or “media education.” Meanwhile, the percentages confirming that they had heard of “educommunication,” “media literacy,” and about “media education” were 9.93%, 59.57%, and 44.68%, respectively. However, only 11.35% stated that any of these three terms were mentioned explicitly during their undergraduate Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 16 Critical Educommunication mented. This requires a nexus of various actors (educational institutions, the media, civil society, and other entities and organizations) that are committed to critical media literacy as well as the political will to enact a real transformation in this direction. Meanwhile, educators trained in educommunication play an essential role in this process by encouraging critical analysis of reality and transcending a merely instrumental vision of technology. An effective educommunicative approach should not only combine digital competencies with humanistic values but also promote dialog and reflection about the power of information and its effect on society. Learning in educommunication must be built through effective dialogic practices, supported not only by faculty but also by institutions and students’ own interest. However, educommunication cannot achieve the intended social change without critical media literacy that includes dimensions such as gender, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation. Only through comprehensive and contextualized education can the relationship with the media be transformed and a more well-informed and critical society be established. Finally, this study has some limitations that open up possible lines of future research. On the one hand, the interviews focused on the voices of experts from Spain, Latin America, and the USA, suggesting a need to incorporate perspectives from other regions to broaden this comparative dimension. On the other hand, the fact that the surveys were only conducted among students at the University of the Basque Country limits the generalizability of the results. Future research could extend the analysis to include diverse national and regional contexts, thereby deepening the understanding of critical media literacy in different education systems. Discussion The public is faced with several informative disorders (Moreno Bobadilla; Martínez Isidoro, 2022) such as an increase of fake news (Rodríguez-Martelo, 2021) with specific intentions (Pérez Forteza; Izquierdo Cuellar, 2020; Hernández-Rodríguez; Londoño Pardo, 2023), the risk of suffering infoxication or disinformation (Gómez Nieto, 2016), and a decrease in the credibility of the media that can drive news avoidance (Hasell; Harvensen, 2024) or incidental consumption (DíazNoci; Pérez-Altable, 2023). These issues, together with the impacts of artificial intelligence, are reshaping debates on the media and technology and highlight future lines of research on how educommunication could address these challenges in a comprehensive manner. Faced with these risks, receivers can choose to become active audiences by selecting and critically analyzing what they consume, and educommunication or media literacy can provide an essential preventive tool to assist this (Marta-Lazo, 2023). Educommunication and critical media literacy are essential to foster critical thinking in citizens (López-González et al., 2023). To implement these effectively in all areas, it is crucial to reinforce the train- Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 17 Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga; Peña-Fernández ing of teachers so that they can transmit it (Cañas Encinas; Pinedo González; Palacios Picos, 2022), since their role is key in the establishment of a critical public that is conscious of its media consumption. Media literacy courses are in limited supply, and it is essential that they do not focus only on the technological dimension (Masanet; Ferrés, 2013) but also include digital and technological competencies together with human, dialogic, and critical skills. The tendency to prioritize technology eduation over media education should be questioned (Gutiérrez-Martín; Pinedo-González; Gil-Puente, 2022), while the reflective and critical use of technology should be promoted. In this regard, it is worth highlighting that, in countries such as Brazil, educommunication has reached a considerable level as a public policy, becoming established in various municipalities and states, with federal guidelines for initial and ongoing teacher training (Soares, 2018). This situation highlights the potential of educommunication when implemented as a state policy, and orients the debate around an evaluation of its limitations and legacy, especially with the emergence of new technology that demands critical approaches in order to “read the world.” Promoting and making educommunication effective in the educational system also requires the establishment of alliances and networks among various actors, including the media, companies, educational institutions, and other organizations (Gil; Marzal-Felici, 2023), as well as nonformal education initiatives, which have the potential to consolidate educommunicative practices (Ortiz Sobrino; López Vidales; González Pérez, 2022). In addition, there is an urgent need to implement educommunicative, dialogic, and reflective practices in classrooms (González Morales, 2021), such as critical readings of media content (Alvarado-Miquilena, 2012; Ojeda Sánchez; Del Valle Rojas; Del Valle Rojas, 2015), based on critical pedagogies and supported by public policies and a well-trained faculty (Rodríguez-Vázquez; García-Ruiz; Aguaded, 2020). In contexts where the educommunicative tradition remains incipient, addressing these priorities can help to move past a merely theoretical discussion, thus contributing to the practical development of the field and favoring its applicability in society. We conclude that critical media literacy is fundamental to participatory democracy in the twenty-first century and that the question is no longer whether it should be taught, but how to approach and optimize its teaching. 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Available at: https://materiainvestigacion.wordpress.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/04/entrevista-valles.pdf. Last accessed 19 Feb 2025. Mayte Santos Albardía is currently a PhD student in the Social Communication Program at the University of the Basque Country (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, UPV/EHU), where she is researching educommunication as a tool for literacy based on intercultural dialog. She completed her Master’s degree on the Postgraduate Program on Latin American Integration at the University of São Paulo (PROLAM-USP). She is a Journalism and Audiovisual Communication graduate from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4735-7114 E-mail: [email protected] Irati Agirreazkuenaga is an Associate Professor and researcher at the Department of Journalism in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication at UPV/EHU. After obtaining a PhD scholarship from the Basque Government, she completed her international doctoral thesis (2013) on the profiles and attitudes of journalists of Euskadi Irratia (EITB) and Radio nan Gàidheal (BBC Alba). Part of her research was conducted at the University of Glasgow, Centre for Cultural Policy Research (CCPR), under the supervision of Professor Philip Schlesinger. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4258-7714 E-mail: [email protected] Simón Peña-Fernández is a Full Professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). His main lines of research are cyberjournalism, digital communication, and how technology has affected media audiences. He is currently the Principal Investigator of the projects “Impact of artificial intelligence and algorithms on cybermedia, professionals, and audiences” and “Automated counter-narratives against misinformation and hate speech for journalists and social media,” funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and is coordinator of the “Cyber- Educ. Real., Porto Alegre, v. 50, e146104, 2025. 23 Santos Albardía; Agirreazkuenaga; Peña-Fernández media and digital communication in a changing information ecosystem” research network. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2080-3241 E-mail: [email protected] Availability of research data: the dataset supporting the results of this study is published in this article. Editor in charge: Luciana Vellinho Corso