Recent debates on cultural journalism state a crisis in the more “classical” tradition, “proclaiming a decline in the amount and significance of serious reviewing, primarily reflecting an increased orientation towards entertainment and commercialism” (Jaakola, 2012: 482). The emergence of more consumer-driven formats within journalism broadly speaking (Fursich, 2012: 12) is thus transforming cultural journalism into a “continuum between culture, lifestyle and consumption" (Kristensen, 2010: 70), challenging existing definitions of cultural journalism as a distinct journalistic object (Kristensen & From, 2012: 26). In this paper, we intend to verify whether the identified trends are present in the Portuguese press media environment, using a newsmagazine (Visão) as a case study

1. Is cultural journalism in
crisis? A case study
Marisa Torres da Silva & Dora Santos Silva
New University of Lisbon, Portugal (FCSH/UNL)
JSS-ECREA 2014. Thessaloniki, 29 March 2014

2. Cultural journalism
“A very complex area of heterogeneous media,
genres and products that deal with creative,
critic, media or reproductive purposes fine arts,
belles-lettres, currents of thought, social sciences
and humanities, the so-called popular culture and
many other aspects that have to do with the
production, circulation and consumption of
symbolic goods” (Rivera, 2003).
“A continuum between art, popular culture,
lifestyle and consumption" (Kristensen, 2010)
From “cultural journalism” to “journalism on
culture” (Janssen, 2008; From, 2009; Santos
Silva, 2012)

3. Cultural journalism and
creative industries
Creative industries combine "the convergence
concept and practice of creative arts (individual
talent) with the cultural industries (mass scale), in
the context of new media technologies within the
knowledge economy and designated for use by
citizens and interactive consumers” (Hartley,
2005).

4. Cultural, lifestyle and
consumer journalism
The blurring boundaries between cultural,
lifestyle and consumer journalism are
challenging existing definitions of cultural
journalism as a distinct journalistic object
(Kristensen & From, 2012).
Cultural journalism as a promoter of lifestyles,
suggesting what readers should read, hear and
see (Franco, 2013; Hanusch, 2012).

5. Aim and scope of the study
Is cultural journalism in crisis? Or are we
nowadays facing new opportunities within
cultural journalism?
Portuguese newsmagazine (Visão) and its
supplement (Visão Sete) as a case study –
three-month period (October-December 2013 –
13 issues)
Vision/scope of culture in the section “Culture” in
Visão (and whether matches the recent
contributions of academia to cultural journalism

6. Visão
The first issue of Visão magazine hit newsstands
on 25th March 1993 and emerged as a project
with the ambition to overcome the lack of
newsmagazines in Portugal. Currently there are
two newsmagazines published in Portugal: Visão
and Sábado.
The culture section of Visão has an average of
12 pages. It opens with a major piece; it has an
average of two other main pieces; the other
pages include short news, a “person” section,
and sections dedicated to a cultural theme.

7. Visão Sete
The newsmagazine supplement, called Visão Sete
has an average of 32 pages. In the end of 2011, it
approached the current concept: it is now presented
as the “best guide to eat, go out and see”.
It has three main sections – “Eat”, “Go out” and
“See”.
The section “Eat” has seven subsections : To buy |
Design | Restaurants | Trends | Wines | Recipes|
Gourmet.
The section “Go Out” has eight subsections: To buy |
Design | Night| Children | Outdoor | Gadgets | Music|
Fashion.
The section “See” has seven subsections: Movies|

8. Results and discussion – Main trends
There is still a misconception of culture is or
isn´t –
an identity crisis?
The culture section of this newsmagazine has a
an approach of culture related to its artistic
manifestations, but where music, cinema and
literature have the main cover.
Whenever there is a story with a cultural
background, but with a “way of life”, historical or
sociological approach, it doesn´t appear in the
culture section, but, instead, in the “society”
section.

12. Results and discussion – Main trends
The culture section has a very conservative
approach (the other scopes of culture are
regarded to the supplement)
Music (40% - 50 out of a total of 125 news
pieces), Cinema (18% - 23 out of 125) and
Literature (23% - 29 out of 125) are the three
main areas covered and account for 81% of all
themes covered (102 out of 125)
Other areas like design, photography, dance or
urban art are almost absent.

13. Results and discussion – Main trends
Absence of critic
Cultural journalism is fostered, in a great
measure, by the dynamics of the cultural
industries, such as releases and distribution
(Golin & Cardoso, 2009)
The critique is absent of the pages of Visão. In
the supplement, critique was substituted by
simple reviews or commentaries, with a
consumerist point of view.

14. Results and discussion – Main trends
The other perspective of culture – the supplement
Visão Sete
A) Focus on guides
In a total of 13 front covers, 11 are included in the
“Go out” section; of these 11 covers, all are
related with the concept of guide.
Contemporary cultural journalism and
“coolhunting”: orientating audiences in their
lifestyle choices (Franco, 2013), providing them
with information and advice about goods and
services they can use in their daily lives
(Hanusch, 2012).

15. Results and discussion – Main trends
The other perspective of culture – the supplement
Visão Sete
B) Focus on creativity and innovation in the
cultural goods
Major focus on: Portuguese creativity; Portuguese
brands that were refreshed; Portuguese
gastronomy; Innovative shows, cinema festivals
and other initiatives that are driven by the concept
of creativity.

16. Main conclusions
Culture section: still looking for its position.
Other views of culture are explored in the
supplement – but the approach is restricted to a
consumerist and lifestyle perspective.