Use of native digital newspapers in Spanish universities: the causes of their limited presence

Abstract

The emergence of new online media over the last decade has enabled the creation of innovative models focused on discovering mixed financing formulas, new information proposals, and the defense of democratic values, resulting in more plural and reader-oriented journalism. However, unlike in the past with newspapers, this new digital press currently plays little role in universities. To determine the causes of this low prominence of digital newspapers in university libraries, we study the presence of the ten most widely read digital native newspapers in Spain (El español, El confidencial, Ok diario, Economí­a digital, Eldiario.es, Huffington post, Periodista digital, Publico.es, Vozpópuli, and Libertad digital) according to the reference metrics of the Comscore digital audiences in the 260 educational centers included in the Web Ranking of Universities produced by the Cybermetrics Lab of the Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The results show that only seven universities (Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Granada, University of Seville, University of the Basque Country, Carlos III University of Madrid, Camilo José Cela University, and Pontifical University of Salamanca) provide professors and students with access to current and retrospective content of all these media practically since their foundation. Finally, several reasons that condition the limited presence of digital press in the academic world are presented.