The Life of news and the wealth of media companies in the digital world: Reader revenues and professional practices in a post-COVID world

Abstract

This paper is a result of the project News, networks, and users in the hybrid media system. Transformation of media industries and the news in the post-industrial era (RTI2018-095775-B-C43). We present our insights on the latest movements of the Spanish media industry and their influence in the conception of news production during 2020. Specifically, we focus on the implementation of news business models, namely paywalls and membership models, and the movements regarding intellectual property to protect the industry – and their impact on journalists as well. The irruption of the COVID-19 pandemics has accelerated some tendencies in this respect.