Multimedia and transmedia dynamics in local press: Utopia or fact? An analysis of the Catalan case

The local press plays an informative and representative role contributing to social cohesion at the local level. This article analyses the adaptation of these media to the digital era, examining the integration of multimedia and transmedia dynamics in informative projects. After a rigorous review of the literature, the study combines qualitative (tables of analysis) and quantitative (semi-structured interviews and focus-group) methodology applied to a Catalan media sample as a paradigmatic study-case. The multimedia stage is defined within three parameters (medium, format, and narrative), understood as a necessary step to integrate transmedia narratives in which content is expanded and evolved via different platforms with a coordinated editorial strategy. The results reveal only a very limited use of multimedia dynamics and a lack of transmedia narratives, and an ignorance of these processes in the media studied. Hence, this study analyses the situation of digitalisation in the local press, with an innovative perspective with regard to two parameters (multimedia and transmedia), contributing to fill a gap in the existing literature regarding the adaptation of traditional media to virtual environments, considering the local sphere. In order to maintain its position at the local level, it is vital to examine the existence of these media in multiple on-line platforms and the introduction of digital narratives.