Crisis and Journalism

Book «Times of Crisis and Journalism»

Crisis is always upon us. One after another and often overlapping, we live in a constant state of crisis. Journalism plays a fundamental role in such context fostering public deliberation and holding those in power to account.

Journalism provides crucial and accurate information for better decision-making among citizens and can promote necessary debates to help policymaking at the governmental level. During the current Covid-19 pandemic, journalism sounded the alarms. Helped to raise awareness and clarified a virus that was yet unknown, defended vaccination programs and denounced world leaders doing a poor job of managing a global health crisis.

However, journalism faces a crisis of its own struggling with radical changes in the media system amidst disinformation and infodemics. At the same time, different crises affect different countries in different ways. Therefore, it is time for a book that analyses the dynamics within the relationship between crisis and journalism, taking these aspects into account. Furthermore, a book that can abridge the theory and practice divide as well as go beyond Western or Global North perspectives.

Our book will be divided into six specific thematic areas under the broader theme of journalism and crisis. Each of the areas will form a chapter with two key papers, being always addressed by an invited diverse range of academics and professional journalists. Then, each thematic area will be addressed one time from the perspective of Journalism Studies by academics and one time from the perspective of those who produce the news, who will have the opportunity to critically reflect on their experiences.

Thematic areas:

• Politics
• Economics
• Public health
• Climate change
• Migration
• War and conflict

Costs and distribution

Our work as editors is pro bono. All authors will be invited on the same condition, waiving any rights and commission. So, why do we need money? We need the money for the technical finishing touches in the digital and printed versions, design, translation, proofreading, printing, and distribution of the first 200 books.

The book will be published in open access. Our intention is to democratise knowledge with the production of an eBook that can circulate freely among academics, students and journalists. We will also distribute a limited number of printed copies to public universities and schools in Europe and South America.

Initially, we plan to edit one version in English and another in Portuguese. With approximately 280 million speakers, Portuguese is the 5th most widely spoken language in the world. Any amount acquired beyond our target will be applied to translate the book into other languages, as well as to expand distribution in public education institutions. While the eBook will be available to anyone for free, the request for a printed version outside our distribution plan will have shipping and printing costs.

Diversity and gender

The book has a strong focus on diversity. We want to give voice to less heard perspectives from the Global South. The gender dimension will be reached not only with texts that take into account this lens of analysis but also with regard to the gender balance in authorship.

We believe that multiple and diverse views strengthen the understanding of the world and contribute to the construction of knowledge in a more holistic and responsible way.

Who we are

I’m Juliana Alcantara, PhD candidate in Communication Sciences and master’s in journalism and Communication at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra. In 2022, I was also a visiting PhD Scholar at Utrecht University. In 2018/2019, I received the 3% Award of the Best Students of the UC. I have postgraduate degrees in Business Communication and Teaching in Higher Education. Bachelor in Social Communication with a major in Journalism, I have more than ten years of professional experience as a public relations and journalist, working in the Brazilian mainstream media. I’m currently working on my PhD thesis funded by the Portuguese national funding (FCT) on gender and journalism in the context of the covid-19 public health crisis.

I’m Ricardo Ferreira Ribeiro, PhD candidate in Politics and tutor (teaching assistant) at the University of Edinburgh School of Social and Political Science. My research analyses the roles of journalism in processes of democratic backsliding. The project is shaped by my experience as a journalist, which includes 18 years as a reporter, editor, and international correspondent for major Brazilian news outlets. I also have a master’s in journalism and Communication from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, where I received three awards for outstanding academic performance.