Abstract
Media organizations operate in a rivalry-charged ecosystem nowadays, as a consequence of emerging patterns of news production, distribution, and consumption. Furthermore, the growing of public social media manifestations and the arrival of digital journalism require new professional roles, responsibilities, and skills inside the media industry. In this context, Faculties of Communication need to equip students with the digital competencies that are relevant to new media outlets and journalistic work. Based on this approach, the main objective of this study is to answer the following questions: What does the literature suggest about the digital skills that new professional profiles should acquire in the field of journalism? Which dimensions of digital competence are gaining visibility and which dimensions are being neglected? To answer the scientific objectives, a systematic review has been carried out following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. The application of the two models of digital competence, Bloom’s taxonomy (1956), and digital competence in education (Redecker, 2017), serves as a framework in two ways: to determine the level of digital competence development, and to identify the dimensions on which greater emphasis is being placed. The results show a lack of studies linked to key aspects of digital competence, especially those related to personal growth, emotional state (Redecker, 2017), and the development of a deep level of acquisition of this competence (Bloom, 1956). This article proposes to reflect on whether we want to train professionals according to the model demanded by the media outlets nowadays, or whether we prefer to train communication professionals with a deep level of digital competence, since they are able to respond to the future and changing needs of the 21st century.
Highlights
In 2020, an artificial intelligent new language genera‐ tor, GPT‐3, wrote an essay, entitled “Are You Scared Yet, Human?,” in The Guardian, to convince citizens that robots come in peace (GPT‐3, 2020)
The DigCompEdu framework is a model of digital competence that should guide the development of present and future curricula; the study of these aspects would allow us to assess whether the cur‐ rent curricula are addressing all the necessary aspects of digital competence
This study provides an important insight into the key aspects of digital competence and skills required by journalism professionals that are currently in demand
Summary
In 2020, an artificial intelligent new language genera‐ tor, GPT‐3, wrote an essay, entitled “Are You Scared Yet, Human?,” in The Guardian, to convince citizens that robots come in peace (GPT‐3, 2020). This article expressed deep concern about the future of journalism and challenged the new competencies and skills of stu‐ dents at the faculties of communication. It has become increasingly obvious and plain that journalists and media organisations operate in a “hypercompetitive environment” Lazo et al (2020) stress that there are traditional competencies in journalism that graduates should always acquire, regard‐ less of whether professionals operate in online or offline environments since the absence of these skills would lead to an “identity crisis of journalism, with deep and disastrous consequences for the profession, the soci‐ ety and democracy” In this sense, Lazo et al (2020) propose that the most noteworthy classical com‐ petencies and skills of journalists are “professional iden‐ tity competencies, solidarity competencies, narrative skills, reporting skills, ethical, deontological and juridi‐ cal competencies, psychosocial skills, social commitment competencies, creativity, speculative competencies and autonomous learning skills” (p. 55)
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