Climate change communication on social media plays a prominent role in efforts undertaken by state agencies, NGOs, and international organizations, to make citizens aware of this phenomenon. The images used to communicate climate change are of great importance, since they can help to effectively raise citizen awareness. Building upon news values theory and the concept of availability heuristics, this research paper aims to identify principles that can be used for effective visual communication of climate change on social media on a cross-national scale, based upon analyses of characteristics of images that foster interaction on Twitter. We conducted a content analysis of a random selection of images (photographs, illustrations, and graphics, n = 380), posted on Twitter that were included in the so-called ‘top tweets’ about climate change. The results indicate that the types of images that are used on social media are relatively similar to those employed by conventional media, although images of identifiable people are less frequently shown on social media. We also deduced that four practical principles are especially relevant to foster user interaction on Twitter through images: (i) show ‘real people’ (i.e. non-staged images of people that transmit real emotions), (ii) tell a story, (iii) include a local connection, and (iv) show impacts or actions by people who are directly affected. These practical principles are based on the more general principles of meaningfulness and personification, two foundations that can help to overcome some of the main barriers to citizens’ perception of climate change as a relevant issue with serious consequences in their lives. Campaigns on social media that use imagery based on these practical and general principles can be effective in communicating the shared responsibility to address climate change. This can have a relevant impact on social perception, since it can encourage citizens to care about climate, which is regarded as necessary to increase participation in climate action.

Digital-native news organizations have grown steadily in Spain since the mid-1990s and they have become established as a major force in the media market. Paradoxically, their biggest expansion coincided with the Great Recession (2008–2014). In fact, their numbers increased most during 2012–2013, when traditional media were cutting staff in response to the economic crisis, and unemployment rates in the media sector as a whole hit their peak. However, these digital-native news startups have yet to prove their sustainability and stability. This study uses our own database of 3,862 native and non-native digital news outlets in Spain and the Reuters Institute Digital News Report to analyze a number of characteristics of these media, such as the percentage that have gone inactive, the relative popularity of legacy brands vs. digital natives, multi-platform synergies, content subject matter, geographical location, ownership, and funding sources. Based on these quantitative parameters, this study reviews the structural strengths and weaknesses of digital-native media in the Spanish news market. Taking into account these findings, we conclude that the surge in digital-native news media observed in Spain during the Great Recession followed the pattern of creative destruction described by several economists.

Digital news publishers strive to balance revenue streams in their business models: as standard advertising declines, alternatives for sustaining digital journalism arise in the forms of sponsored content, user donations and payments—one-off purchases, subscriptions or memberships, public or private grants, electronic commerce, events and consulting. An exhaustive study found 2874 active online news publications in Spain, and it observed the adoption of such models in early 2021. Advertising remains the most popular source of income for digital news operations (85.8%) and most sites rely on just one or two revenue streams (74.5%). We compare the cases in our census by their origin (digital-native or non-native), geography (local/regional or national/global) and topic scope (generalist or specialized). We find that traditional, national and specialized online media have a broader and more innovative revenue mix than digital-native, regional or local and general-interest news outlets. The comprehensiveness of this pioneering study sheds light for the first time on the risk that the lack of diversification and innovation in funding sources may imperil the financial sustainability of some online news operations in Spain, mostly those with a smaller scope and no backing from a traditional business, according to the results we present here.

The funding model crisis for newspapers is a matter of public concern; and it is not only a business issue, but also a social and political one, as news organisations are considered to have an irreplaceable function in democratic systems. Technological and social changes have transformed the business model of news organisations so that, in a digital scenario with a strong competition for consumers’ attention, they have had to diversify their portfolio of income streams. In such a context, this study analyses the state of the diversification of revenue streams in the Spanish digital media market, using the available data from the total universe of digital media in the country. The article focusses on the two most common revenue streams related to user payment -subscriptions and memberships- and analyses the importance of four variables in this diversification of revenue strategies: their nature (digital native versus traditional), thematic scope (general versus specialised), territorial scope (local versus national), and the type of organisation that promotes it (traditional, new, or independent groups). The data obtained suggest that there are no universal formulae in the implementation of payment models for Spanish digital media. Specifically, there are significant differences in the revenue models between native and non-native digital media. Thus, payment strategies are more prevalent among non-native digital media than among native media. Furthermore, the non-native media that have opted for paid models tend to diversify their sources of income more than the non-native ones based on free model. Additionally, data show that paywalls and memberships are more usual among specialised non-native digital media and generalist native outlets. Also, payments are more often required by local and regional media than national outlets. From the ownership point of view, although the main Spanish media corporations are developing their revenue models, the pay-per-content model is also quite extended among organisations, associations, and foundations not linked with the traditional publishing groups. This study, due to its exhaustiveness, dimensions, and novelty, identifies in detail the current state of the implementation of the pay model for digital media in Spain, which can help and facilitate media managers in their decision-making.

Desde su origen a mediados de los años 1990 los medios digitales han construido un espacio propio que, en la actualidad, se presenta fortalecido y diversificado. Este estudio describe la metodología utilizada para trazar el mapa de cibermedios en España y, seguidamente, expone cómo se distribuyen dichos medios según las plataformas utilizadas, el alcance geográfico de su cobertura informativa, la oferta multilingüe y la distribución por grupos empresariales. Palabras clave: medios digitales, medios nativos digitales, cibermedios, medios de comunicación, periodismo digital, grupos de medios digitales.

Digital media have become an integral part of the journalism industry and of audience habits – in 2021 our research registered 2873 active news websites in Spain. First, this paper explores trends facing online news; it sets out the criteria used to identify a news brand as digital-native or non-native; and it presents the results of our classification. This includes: data on the presence of news titles both on proprietary platforms (print, radio, TV or app) in addition to their websites, and on external platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Telegram); their geographic scope (hyperlocal, local/regional or national/global); their subject (general or specialized coverage); and on ownership and language used. Almost 70% of the media were regional or local, while 60% covered general news, and one in three were linked to a print product, almost as many as those with their own app for users. Social media uptake is so widespread that more than 95% of the sites are on Facebook, with a similar number on Twitter, while more than 60% can be found on YouTube, and similarly on Instagram. Among specialized sites, sport is the largest category, comprising twice as many digital-native sites (106) than sites with traditional roots (46). The entertainment focus expands in the digital environment, and online-originated culture, business and science and technology outlets also outnumber legacy publications.