The 2024 edition of the Doctoral Summer School, organised by the PhD programme in Journalism and Communication Sciences of the UAB Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences, will focus on analysing the role of journalism and communication in the face of the challenge of disinformation. To this end, the programme has planned a series of sessions that combine keynote speeches with round tables, case studies and the presentation of projects and initiatives in the field of research and dissemination.

This meeting for reflection and debate will be attended by teachers, researchers, media professionals and students from different parts of the world. Thus, from 1 to 5 July, we will articulate a great dialogue with colleagues from Spain, Italy, Egypt, Peru, China, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile, among others. The sessions will be held in Spanish and English, and will take place in the facilities of the Faculty of Communication Sciences.

The programme has also reserved a special slot for students of the doctoral programme who will be able to present the progress of their respective research, learn about the work of their peers and participate in a holistic and transversal debate on the different milestones, the possible methodological approaches and the findings that the students of our programme have been and are generating in the framework of their doctoral work. In this edition, the programme includes a guided tour of the facilities of the General Library of Communication.

Welcome to this adventure of exploration, discovery and learning!

To find out more about the Doctoral summer school 2024 and its programme, please download the following pdf or click here.

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We want to help answer this question from a reflective, scientific point of view. A doctoral programme is in fact a collective platform for scientific research to answer certain questions. So in this summer school, what we seek to do is to sort out the questions that, from many perspectives, are being asked in relation to the object of the programme, which, as its title indicates, is Communication and journalism in the face of the challenge of disinformation. 

We have divided the sessions into two distinct parts. The mornings have been dedicated to conferences and debates with researchers and doctors who work, from different disciplines, on disinformation and its context, and how the media and journalistic work face them. We have also invited the directors of the department’s research groups. We have asked all of them to do two things. First, they should formulate the questions they consider essential on the general issue of disinformation, which will help us to understand what is relevant and to rule out the noise.  The second is to summarise the main lines of research on the issue.

The afternoons, the second part of the day, will be dedicated to the doctoral students of the programme, who will present their own doctoral research (or that of the research group they belong to), always in relation to the general theme of the School. To this end, we will organise round tables and colloquiums that will group together specific areas of research. There is also the possibility for those who wish to present a poster on their doctoral research work and are willing to discuss it with interested parties.

Who is participating in the first part, the morning sessions, and why?

All the names and CVs are listed in the programme. But I will refer specifically to what we have asked of each of them. The week will be opened by Dr. José María Mártínez Selva, professor of psychobiology at the University of Murcia. He has done a lot of work on the relationship between media and networks and personal psychology, with emphasis on factors such as stress, personal relationships, etc.  He has just published a book whose subject tackles the question of truth and lies from the very beginning: “La ciencia de la mentira“. We felt that, as the opening of the course, his multidisciplinary approach – ranging from neurology to sociology and communication theory – was very relevant. We expect him to place the issue of disinformation in a broad context and to provide us with a holistic perspective. 

We have then invited different professors and PhDs from the programme department – Luis Pérez, Santiago Tejedor, Michele Catanzaro, Cristina Pulido, Teresa Velázquez, Carmina Crusafón, Sally Samy, Samy Tayie, and others – to give us their different views on the issue. Thus, we will deal with polarisation and the media, the scientific method and journalism, the contributions of AI to journalism -with its problems and solutions-, EU policy in relation to disinformation, and so on. And we close the week with the contribution of another guest lecturer, Dr. Lluís Codina, who will help us to unravel the contributions that AI can make to our scientific work in the fight against disinformation. 

I think the programme is very interesting and quite comprehensive in its approach. We hope that it will serve, above all, to enrich the different doctoral research of the researchers in the programme. 

But is the course only for them?

No, the course is open to all researchers, scholars and professionals interested in the measurement of the capacities of our rooms. They are very welcome.

From your point of view, what are the challenges facing journalism and communication in the face of disinformation?

They are many, varied and affect different dimensions of our personal and social lives. 

To try to answer this question, it is necessary to contextualise the phenomenon very well. What we call disinformation today is an everlasting phenomenon in humanity. It has to do with knowledge and the distribution of power. Those who are powerful, govern or simply want to impose their designs on others have always known that to achieve their goals they had to impose a cognitive (or information) imbalance. They had to accumulate more and better knowledge than those on whom they seek to impose their will. And for this they have used, throughout history, many different strategies, but always oriented to this end: accumulating information exclusively, prohibiting the circulation of information, selectively informing, misinforming, concealing, manipulating, falsifying, etc. All these strategies correspond and adapt to the circumstances and technologies of the different eras and their information systems. In ours, it is clear that this unequal distribution of knowledge or information corresponds to (and feeds) inequalities of resources (subsistence, on the one hand, and of power, on the other), but also of social relations (social capital) and cultural relations (cultural capital).

And this unequal distribution takes place in the midst of what we have called the media tsunami (the great mediatisation) that has digitised – through large platforms – human relations. This is what we need to study. 

Personally and with my research team, we have dealt with many aspects of this problem. I have tried to describe and theorise how media technologies transform culture and society, affecting dimensions of our existence of which we had little awareness. I have done so in “La gran mediatización“. I tried to draw attention to the enormous and growing power of large platforms that were giving rise to two worrying phenomena: a) super-surveillance, a new system of mass control over people; and b) the concentration of political and technological power, what has later been called techno-feudalism. I believe that issues such as echo chambers, studies on post-truth and, in general, what is being studied on disinformation, respond to a double problem, derived from the unequal distribution of knowledge, on the one hand – which, as I have said, is an almost eternal problem – and, on the other hand, a very recent phenomenon that acts as a communicational infrastructure and as an accelerator of processes, which is the digital tsunami. 

But, more specifically, how does this unequal distribution and the media tsunami affect journalism?

Well, let’s be blunt, like a catastrophe that is no less serious for having been announced. Economic catastrophe. The journalistic media can no longer find a business model that allows them to survive, and so they disappear, lay off staff and close down. Or they transmute into infotainment (and fiction) systems that use the changing world as an occasion to launch discourses that, although they look like journalism, do not meet the standards. 

What standards are you referring to?

Those that have made journalism a reliable discourse about the world. And that can be summed up in a few sentences: the separation between fact and opinion. The acceptance that the world has an empirical reality that we can approach with a method similar to the scientific one; the need for objectivity or neutrality (which does not exclude a commitment to certain values) but which requires not lying, not misrepresenting, not hiding the facts; and, finally, an ethical commitment to honesty and credibility that is established with the public… All these statements or principles are what have made journalism a discourse conducive to understanding the world and support for democratic understanding when it comes to shaping the structures of power. It is this discourse that can build a democratic public sphere.

Well, what is now called journalism is either very weak and has lost its power of conviction or impact on public opinion, or it is a hybrid between the language of conquest, entertainment and the trivialisation of society.

If these standards are perverted by sensationalism, banality or manipulation, journalism will gradually disappear. 

But what can be done? 

I believe that current research helps us a lot. It helps us to critically analyse the situation and look for solutions. 

On the critical side, it is beginning to be recognised that the global, and completely unregulated, emergence of the Internet and social media is not helping to sustain democracies. On the contrary, it is eroding them. It encourages the circulation of falsehoods and the discourse of entertainment rather than scientific thought and the discourse of understanding. It saturates information and dulls meaning. And, above all, it reduces direct sociability and envelops us in bubbles where only echo chambers thrive. I think there is plenty of evidence for all this, although some effects can be debated and we still lack the knowledge to be completely certain about what is going on.

On the constructive and political (also professional) side, the stakes seem to be firm and move in three directions: a) the search for more plural and diverse communicational systems, which are free from economic and political influences, and which can safely face the question of economic survival; b) the regulation of social networks, of the Internet and of AI: for the first time, a certain consensus seems to be spreading on the need for ethical, professional and legal regulation of many aspects related to the media tsunami; and c) the transformation of the political system, especially the functioning of democracies: it seems that communication sciences and political sciences are looking for ways to make the democratic political sphere more transparent, more participatory, less demagogic and to ensure a good distribution of power and an effective resolution of conflicts and problems. 

Is there a solution in sight?

I am optimistic. There is no denying that we face great challenges and enormous obstacles. But research and public debate can help many – and in many ways – to find solutions. 

I think the scientific community is being very active in this regard. There is an explicit and more visible emphasis than ever before on the role of media literacy and journalism literacy. In this sense, we have moved from approaches that were especially related to education and training to involve a broader set of issues. This movement is being promoted by international organisations such as UNESCO, which has made Media and Information Literacy a central focus of its action in the field of information and freedom of expression. The same has happened with the United Nations, which has launched a broad programme of action against disinformation. The European Union has also put media literacy at the centre of the fight against disinformation. The World Economic Forum is also talking about the global risks of disinformation, and so on. In short, it is clear that the problem is a matter of concern.

The solutions and contributions that are being implemented in the academic field are very interesting and offer very valuable information. They range from observatories specialised in the fight against disinformation, EDMO, observatories and reports on pluralism, political initiatives such as those of the Council of Europe, professional and academic networks, such as the UNESCO Global Alliance, the UNESCO network of universities in favour of MIL, or the one being promoted by specific states such as the USA, DCN. 

Taken together, I believe solutions will be found. The problem is whether we will be in time to avoid catastrophes. 

What catastrophes are you referring to?

To the many that may ensue: terror of coexistence, civic conflicts, armed confrontations, erosion of democracy, perversion of the public sphere… All this has to do with the media, communication, journalism and information. And the problems at a time of geostrategic and technological change as important as the one we are living through create a lot of uncertainty.

Is social polarisation an aggravating factor?

A certain degree of confrontation and dialectical conflict is enriching for democracy, for reliable information and, above all, for finding solutions to conflicts. What happens is that this confrontation needs a stable, calm and explicit framework for argumentation and reasoning. All voices must be listened to calmly, exchanges must be equal, discourse must be rational, based on empirical data and respect the facts as much as the interlocutors. If this is the case, debate (even if polarised) is good. However, what we are experiencing nowadays is that debates are moving away from rationality and are based on emotional discourses in which identity, subjectivity and sentiment seem to prevail over any other consideration. Thus, victimhood, fear, emotional impulses, unbalanced by any calculation, are spreading. And even the perspective on reality is blurred: it is not science that is taken into account, but the will of those who want to see reality in their own way… If this happens within a media system where the circulation of information is not filtered or subjected to criticism, where any statement, true or false, spreads at the speed of light, then the problem is serious. Paul Vrilio said that we are moving in the dimensions of an atomic explosion, and that is how information works today. The risk is therefore great, and polarisation is the catalyst for fanaticism and the spread of statements that do not correspond to reality.

What about scientific discourse?

Paradoxically, the more and better science is practised, the more stereotypes, clichés and superstitions that seemed to have been overcome reappear in popular discourse (and that of certain elites). It is as if we were experiencing a certain involution. In the face of this, the media and journalism must make science and its methods more popular and spread them throughout all areas of society. Involve citizens in the decisions of scientists and in the consideration (and regulation of the impact of technology). This is important and a matter of survival.

When it comes to doctoral programmes such as Communication and Journalism, it is very important – and I give this as an example – that in the choice of the objects of study, in the implementation of methods and in the presentation of results, doctoral students get used to discussing not only with experts and researchers, but also with ordinary people, with those who live and suffer, sometimes, the effects of communication. I think this is a more participatory and creative way of doing science. And of communication research. 

To address some of the topics that will be presented at the Summer School 2024, what will happen with AI and journalism?

We don’t know. We are beginning to think of AI as both a boon and a risk. Let’s start with the risks. The minor risk is substitution, that AI will replace some of the tasks that journalists have been doing up to now. And the greater risk is that they will supplant them (which is a covert and disguised substitution). If the supplanting happens, journalism is ruined, it will be nothing, just a machine generation of discourse.

This is what AI research must shed light on: where are we going? where do we want to go? where should we go? and how do we get to the destinations we set out for?

At the moment the research we can do is very weak. We do not have the resources that the big technology platforms are mobilising. We cannot do research either on them (hardly) or with them (hardly at all). So we are disarmed, at risk. I think this is one of the big problems we need to solve soon. Otherwise the drift of technology and the application of AI in journalism and media will be authoritarian. 

With all that you says, it’s a bit scary about the future world.

As researchers we should be alert, but not afraid. The siege of falsehood and superstition has been constant in humanity, as has the siege of abusive power and inequality. Today we have methods to combat these evils. We have new risks, but more collective intelligence to deal with them. We have to live with falsehood, hypocrisy and lies, which are inherent to social life. But the struggle for truth, for respect and reliability is our best antidote. 

We can live with lies without giving up the fight against them. Journalism and science can be at the forefront of this movement, and research can accompany it with all its knowledge and intelligence.

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The two-day programme is structured as follows.

Programme

Thursday 29th June

10.00: Welcome.

10.30: PhD student research progress presentations – Peer review (I session) moderated by Dr. Luiz Peres.  Link to papers.

11.45: Coffee break

12.00: Lecture ‘Research methodologies on digital vulnerability’ by Dr. Ignacio Blanco (CEU San Pablo – Madrid) presented by Dr. Santiago Tejedor.

13.30: Lunch.

15.00: Journal Club ‘Semiotics’ by Dr. Rosario Lacalle (the previous reading to participate will be sent to the registered people).

16.00: Lecture ‘The populist sense: Keys and challenges to study political discourse’ by Dr. Sebastián Moreno Barreneche (Universidad ORT Uruguay – Montevideo) presented by Dr. Teresa Velázquez.

17.30: Seminar ‘Transfer of research to the achievement of SDG5 Gender equality in journalism’, Alicia Oliver (Xarxa Europea Dones Periodistes) and Dr. Cristina Pulido (UAB).

Friday 30 June

9.00: PhD student research progress presentations – Peer review (II session) moderated by Dr. Anna Tous.  Link to communications.

10.45: Findings and future lines of research by the SGR research groups of the department: Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación and LAPREC (Laboratori de Prospectiva i Recerca en Comunicaciò, Cultura i Cooperaciò). By the director of the Gabinete Santiago Tejedor and the co-director of LAPREC Teresa Velázquez.

11.45: Closing.

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There will be three main activities: debates and conferences organised by the Doctoral Commission; the Journal Club space coordinated with the journal Anàlisi, and the Doctoral Working Groups through which students can share their research progress with other students and professors. Under the title, “Human Rights in Times of Conflict. Contributions from research in journalism and communication”, the reflections, contributions and questions that emerge from the different programmed spaces will be shared and nourished with the participation of experts and academics, students and professors from the university community.  

The participation of doctoral students in spaces in which they can share their research advances and learn about the debates and procedures of current research practice in Communication is a central element in high-level academic training.

To this end, the Doctoral Summer School will promote intellectual exchange between students and lecturers, both from the UAB’s specific communication programme and from programmes in other countries and institutions. The holding of research meetings with people interested in similar topics, and the confrontation of research projects with different realities (geographical, academic, theoretical), allows the academic growth of the project as well as the professional projection of the student.

Enrolment in the Doctoral Summer School of the UAB PhD in Communication and Journalism is free of charge and guarantees a certificate of participation. Click here to learn more.

Taking part in the Doctoral Summer School offers the opportunity to get to know one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe and its surroundings in the company of young people from all over the world, as well as to enjoy a highly enriching cultural exchange. The mix of cityscape, sun, beach, mountains, spectacular architecture, varied gastronomy and an excellent transport network that facilitates mobility, makes the region a world-renowned tourist centre.

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The participants, from Europe, Latin America and Asia, gave life to the various training activities of the Doctoral Summer School, which this year celebrated its ninth edition. During the event’s three days, participants reflected on topics such as digitalisation in journalism, media literacy and political communication.

On the first day, the inaugural conference was given by Claudio Celis Bueno from the Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa (Italy). The researcher explained how content moderation is important for the protection of users in the online environment. In this line, he also spoke about the automation of common sense and the caution with which technology should be used for this purpose.

He was followed by Luis Miguel Pedrero from the Universidad de Nebrija (Spain), who addressed the subject of radio’s evolution and adaptation to the digital ecosystem. In this regard, the specialist highlighted the current boom in podcasting and pointed it out as a tool to reconnect radio with younger audiences. This conference was organised by the research group Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación.

This first day closed with the first Working Doctoral Group. Professor Carmina Crusafon from the UAB moderated the interventions of doctoral students Jordi Badia Perea, Juan Pablo Cannata Ramos, Javier Durán Ramírez and Carlos Peña Orozco. Each presented the progress of their doctoral research and received comments from their peers.

On 6 July, the second day of the Doctoral Summer School, the Journal Club was organised by the journal Anàlisi. In this space, the research projects ‘Venezuelan mass migration in Colombia: a study of news framing in reference cybermedia’, by Gabriel Lotero-Echeverri, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez and M. Amor Pérez-Rodríguez, and ‘Cultural slow journalism in Spanish: Case studies from Spain, Mexico and Colombia’ by Carmen Peñafiel, Beatriz Zabalondo and Alazne Aiestaran were presented. In this way, the event participants had the opportunity to learn from the authors of the publications about the research process they carried out. They were also able to ask them questions that enriched the academic debate.

This was followed by two conferences. The first was ‘GMMP Who is in the news: Beijing +25 Balance – Global Media Monitoring Project’, given by Professor Mª Teresa Vera Balanza from the Universidad de Málaga (Spain) and organised by the research group Laboratorio de Periodismo y Comunicación para la Ciudadanía Plural (Laboratory of Journalism and Communication for Plural Citizenship). And the second was ‘Anti-feminist propaganda on the web as a political strategy: the case of Vox’, given by Professor Asunción Bernárdez of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and organised by the Observatory of Spanish fiction and new technologies (OFENT).

The second Working Doctoral Group was also held. The doctoral students Pedro Nicolás Aldana Afanador, Mariana Alencar Dornelles, Alicia Tamayo Rodríguez and Gabriel Torres Espinoza participated in this occasion. The interventions were moderated by Professor Santiago Giraldo Luque of the UAB.

The third day opened with the conference ‘Narrative Anatomy of Fake News in times of pandemic in Brazil’, given by Professor Fabiana Piccinin from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) (Brazil) and organised by the Laboratory for Prospective and Research in Communication (LAPREC) of the UAB. The specialist presented how disinformation about the coronavirus has grown in the South American country, and how politicians have promoted it.

On the last day, the third and fourth Working Doctoral Groups were held in parallel. One in Spanish and the other in English. The doctoral students participating in the first group were Eman Elsayed Elshamy, Jingya Hao, Engy Hassan Shaker, Ahmed Nazih Toubal and Wei Wang, and the moderator was Professor Laura Cervi from the UAB. The second group consisted of Alexandre Lavado Campas, Tomás Cajueiro, Olga Casado Rodríguez, César Eduardo Gordillo and Nelly Guamán Guadalima, and was moderated by Santiago Giraldo Luque.

Finally, the closing lecture was given in English by Luz Mar González-Arias from the Universidad de Oviedo (Spain). She presented ‘Communicating COVID-19: Media, Literary and Artistic Responses to Lockdown’. This presentation closed the series of reflections generated around the main theme of the Doctoral Summer School 2021, and opened lines of debate on, for example, the responsibility of the media in the media literacy of the population.

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