*CFP* "DIGITAL NATIVE NEWS MEDIA", SPECIAL ISSUE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION JOURNAL

Since the beginnings of digital journalism, in the 1990s, the first purely online news media were launched in many countries. In that initial stage, the digital native (or digital-born) news media—defined as “media companies that were born and grown entirely online” (Wu, 2016, p. 131)—remained overshadowed by online media derived from press, radio and television brands, which represented the most important part of the news media market.

Throughout the first two decades of the 21st century, the digital native media have multiplied and consolidated. This development has been accelerated as a result of the global economic crisis that began in 2008, which has especially affected the traditional media companies during the last decade. The financial and reputational problems suffered by many legacy media companies have favored the appearance of a myriad of new digital media brands, of very different types, but with a common denominator: they have been founded purely in and for the internet (Nicholls et al., 2016).

Today, digital native news media constitute a substantial part of the emerging media market left by the economic crisis and, in front of the decline and public questioning of a large part of the news industry, they bring a breath of fresh air to journalism (Harlow & Salaverría, 2016; Majó-Vázquez et al., 2017). Their natural adaptation to the internet allows digital-born news media to explore technological, editorial, and business models that are many times distinct from those used by legacy media. However, at the same time, their smaller infrastructure and usually limited human and material resources raise questions about their capacity to carry out a long-range quality journalism. Despite these limitations, in several countries, digital native news media are becoming a powerful vector of journalistic innovation (Küng, 2015), as well as a benchmark for alternative and independent journalism (Salaverría et al., 2019).

This special issue of Media and Communication invites scholars to examine the models and professional protocols of the digital native news media. Both empirical and theoretical manuscripts; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches; single-country and comparative research; and historical and contemporary inquiries are welcome. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Profile and typology of digital native news media. 
• Relations between digital native news media and legacy media. 
• Origins and historical evolution of digital native news media. 
• Production models and professional routines of journalists in digital native news media. 
• Editorial, technological and business models of digital native news media. 
• Professional standards and ethical codes of digital native news media. 
• Digital native news media and social media. 
• Alternative journalism in digital native news media. 
• Algorithmic journalism and data journalism in digital native news media.

Instructions for Authors: Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal’s instructions for authors and to send their abstracts (about 250 words, with a tentative title and reference to the thematic issue) by email to the Editorial Office (mac@cogitatiopress.com) by 15 September 2019.

Deadline for Abstracts: 15 September 2019

Deadline for Submissions: 15 December 2019

Publication of the Issue: Volume 8, Issue 2 - April/June 2020

Open Access: The journal has an article processing charge to cover its costs, so authors are advised to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication fees. 

Further information about the journal’s open access charges and institutional memberships.

Editor: Ramón Salaverría (University of Navarra, Spain)