doi.org/10.15178/va.2018.142.125-126

REPORT

Specialized journalism. Volume II
Beatriz Peña Acuña and Juan José Jover López (Coord.)
Madrid, ACCI ediciones, Publishing House. 2017

Graciela Padilla Castillo¹

¹Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. gracielp@ucm.es

This second volume of a trilogy of specialized journalism manuals is a current, original and necessary revision, which Carlos Lozano Ascensio (Rey Juan Carlos University) and Marcia Franz Amaral (Federal University of Santa María) explain in their prologue: “When speaking of Specialized Journalism, we must define it as a practice of social communication that not only seeks to make generalist journalists specialists in specific contents, but also pursues the specialization of the experts in the dissemination of journalism” (page 11).
According to the authors: “Specialized Journalism is the point of intersection of Social Communication and Science. Its contents are elaborated by professional mediators who use the routines and the journalistic language. This kind of journalism links the scientific community with the general public, and vice versa” (page 13). And, according to how it is extended and nuanced by coordinators: “This volume, which is the second volume, is due to the concern to summarize and update the contents of Specialized Journalism in a panorama of constant cultural change and journalistic praxis, as well as well as due to the transformation of new technologies and the richness of language “(page 19).
Any reader who approaches the book will find an interesting reading for different fields of Journalism and Communication: Journalism Specialized in Information on the European Union; re-specialization of sports information and communication in view of the second wave of social networks; the treatment of vulnerable groups in Journalism of Society; opportunities of the independent local environmental journalist on the Internet; research journalism through databases. Thanks to the contributions by different professors, academics and experts from around the world, teachers and students can find, in these pages, systematization, ethical rules, case studies and academic and professional perspectives for different fields of most current journalistic work
For example, the chapter on re-specialization of sports information and communication in view of the second wave of social networks delves into Facebook, Twitter , Google+, Instagram, Sanpchat and Vine. It analyzes the paradigmatic case of Spanish athletes, who use these social networks as direct means of communication, without intermediaries, with their followers: “Sport, especially mass sport, has become a commodity service that has found the social echo it looked for through Web 2.0 tools, especially in the field of social networks. These networks are a neutral medium, far removed from the traditional media that, because they belong to large groups, have often vested interests in the practice of professional sports”(page 51).
On the other hand, it is interesting to highlight the chapter on vulnerable groups in Society Journalism, which rarely receives coverage in the media or in ethics and professional deontology manuals: “Society information can be the result of both actions of organized or civil society (associations, groups and entities that know how to channel their demands and act as a counterweight to the State and the market), as well as the actions developed by the invertebrate or unorganized society (sectors characterized by living outside the social structures and that are far from the associative fabric due to lack of opportunities or because of their own decision” (page 75) After this, these pages propose a series of valuable recommendations on the treatment of information where the protagonists are: immigrants, LGTB people , people with disabilities, people affected by pathologies, minors, senior citizens, women in a situation of prostitution and homeless people.
These are just two examples of the value, relevance and rigor of a highly recommended manual for classrooms or for professional practice. The informative trip is complete, rigorous, modern, fresh, and with a multitude of examples and practical cases, striking and recommendable to be taught in the classroom, by developing ranges.
The coordinators of the book are: Beatriz Peña Acuña professor at the Catholic University of Murcia. Extraordinary Doctorate Award, Diploma in Religious Studies, and Licentiate of Journalism and Hispanic Philology and Juan José Jover, Professor of Journalism and Protocol at the University of Murcia. Graduated in Journalism, specialist in Protocol, Ceremonial of state and international ceremonial.
They coordinate the edition, with contributions from David Caldevilla (UCM), Francisco Cabezuelo Lorenzo (UCM), Adolfo Carratalá (University of Valencia), Juan Enrique Gonzálvez Vallés (CEU San Pablo), Devesh Kishore (Indian Institute of Mass Communication), Tasha Singh Parihar (Amity School of Communication), Mónica Viñarás Abad (CEU San Pablo).