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Dr Colin Porlezza

Honorary Research Fellow

School of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Journalism

Contact details

Address

Dr Colin Porlezza A113, College Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Dr Colin Porlezza is a senior lecturer and researcher from Zurich, Switzerland. He joined City, University London, in 2018. Currently, he is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Media and Journalism IMeG at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. At the Università della Svizzera italiana he also earned his doctorate, with an analysis of advertisers' influence on the editorial content of free and traditional newspapers in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. He also earned his BA and MA (licentiate) in Lugano where he studied communication sciences with a specialization in mass communication and new media. Before joining City, University of London, he worked at the Università della Svizzera italiana, the University of Zurich and the University of Neuchâtel.

Colin Porlezza gained substantial experience in research, managing and participating actively in several publicly funded projects, among others from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme or the Swiss National Fund, but also from news organizations such as the Swiss Public Broadcaster SRG SSR or Tamedia. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of the DMINR project funded by the Google Digital News Initiative. The objective of the DMINR project is twofold: first it wants to create a tool for news research and verification based on artificial intelligence to help journalists work with big data and conduct investigations in the digital era. Second, it aims to study the impact of artificial intelligence on newswork and journalists.

He recently concluded a project that looked into the representation of different political actors in the Italian-speaking Swiss public service broadcaster RSI. His research focuses on the datafication and hybridization of digital journalism, media accountability and transparency, as well as on governance and ethics in digital journalism. His research so far has resulted in more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, including 20 journal articles and 25 book chapters, and two books with top publishers. He has given several invited talks at conferences, workshops and research seminars, including keynotes on the future of journalism for the Swiss Federal Media Commission in Bellinzona, the Forum Alpbach Talks at Schloss Belvedere in Vienna, and the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Zurich.

From 2004-2013 he was an active member and co-founder of the European Journalism Observatory, an institution created to build bridges by connecting different journalism cultures and facilitating collaboration between media researchers and practitioners. Dr Porlezza has also been working as a freelance journalist for various German-language newspapers and specialized magazines such as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. He is currently a Board member of the Swiss Association of Communications and Media Research and, in the past, he was also Co-Chair of the Journalism Studies Section in the same association. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Austrian National Study of Journalists as well as the international Network Innovamedia for innovation in journalism. He has featured on the Swiss Public Service Broadcaster SRG SSR, Poynter, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Tages-Anzeiger and Corriere del Ticino.

Languages

French (can read, write, speak and understand spoken), German (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review) and Italian (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review).

Research

Research interests

- Media accountability and transparency
- Accuracy and credibility in journalism
- Crowdfunding in journalism
- Entrepreneurial journalism

Publications

Publications by category

Books (3)

  1. (2014). Journalists and Media Accountability. Peter Lang US.
  2. Porlezza, C. (2013). Gefährdete journalistische Unabhängigkeit. Konstanz: UVK. ISBN 978-3-86764-461-7.
  3. Fengler, S., Eberwein, T., Mazzoleni, G., Porlezza, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (Eds.), (2013). Journalists and Media Accountability: An International Study of News People in the Digital Age. Peter Lang.

Chapters (18)

  1. Porlezza, C. (2020). Switzerland. In Merskin, D.L. (Ed.), The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society (pp. 1699–1701). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-4833-7553-3.
  2. Porlezza, C. (2019). Data journalism and the ethics of open source. In Daly, A., Devitt, S.K. and Mann, M. (Eds.), Good Data (pp. 189–201). Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. ISBN 978-94-92302-27-4.
  3. Porlezza, C. (2019). Accuracy in Journalism. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies ISBN 978-0-19-022861-3.
  4. Porlezza, C. and Di Salvo, P. (2019). Ensuring Accountability and Transparency in Networked Journalism. In Eberwein, T., Fengler, S. and Karmasin, M. (Eds.), Media Accountability in the Era of Post-Truth Politics (pp. 212–226). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-8153-6166-4.
  5. Porlezza, C., Benecchi, E. and Colapinto, C. (2018). The transmedia revitalization of investigative journalism: Opportunities and challenges of the serial podcast. Exploring Transmedia Journalism in the Digital Age (pp. 183–201). ISBN 978-1-5225-3781-6.
  6. Porlezza, C. (2017). Digitaler Journalismus zwischen News und Native Advertising - Risiken und Nebenwirkungen einer heiklen Beziehung. Abbruch - Umbruch - Aufbruch (pp. 249–270). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. ISBN 978-3-8452-7666-3.
  7. Porlezza, C. (2017). Media. Encyclopedia of Big Data (pp. 1–7). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-32001-4.
  8. Di Salvo, P. and Porlezza, C. (2014). OpenLeaks. Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics Washington: CQ Press.
  9. Eberwein, T., Porlezza, C. and Splendore, S. (2014). Media as Political Actors. International Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
  10. Colapinto, C. and Porlezza, C. (2013). Systems Theory and Innovation. In Carayannis, E.G. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention and Entrepreneurship New York: Springer.
  11. Porlezza, C. (2013). "Einstürzende Mauern": Folgen eines heiklen Zusammenspiels zwischen Journalismus und Werbung. In Puppis, M., Künzler, M. and Jarren, O. (Eds.), Media structures and media performance. State of the art and perspectives. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  12. Fengler, S., Eberwein, T., Mazzoleni, G., Porlezza, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (2013). Summary and Perspectives for Media Accountability. In Fengler, S., Eberwein, T., Mazzoleni, G., Porlezza, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (Eds.), Journalists and Media Accountability. An International Study of News People in the Digital Age. New York: Peter Lang.
  13. Porlezza, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (2012). Getting the Facts Straight in a Digital Era: Journalistic Accuracy and Trustworthiness. In Peters, C. and Broersma, M. (Eds.), Rethinking Journalism London: Routledge.
  14. Porlezza, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (2012). Switzerland: The Principle of Diversity. In Eberwein, T., Fengler, S., Lauk, E. and Leppik-Bork, T. (Eds.), Mapping Media Accountability - in Europe and Beyond Köln: Herbert von Halem Verlag.
  15. Porlezza, C., Russ-Mohl, S. and Zanichelli, M. (2011). Die doppelte Schwachstelle: Fehlerhäufigkeit und Corrections Management. In fög - Forschungsbereich Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft, (Ed.), Qualität der Medien Schweiz Basel: Schwabe Verlag.
  16. Porlezza, C., Russ-Mohl, S. and Zanichelli, M. (2011). Fehler über Fehler... Berichterstattungsirrtümer und Corrections Management in Tageszeitungen im internationalen Vergleich. In Wolling, J., Will, A. and Schumann, C. (Eds.), Medieninnovationen. Wie Medienentwicklungen die Kommunikation in der Gesellschaft verändern Konstanz: UVK.
  17. Porlezza, C. (2006). Bashing the Competition, Indulging in Self-Adulation. In Egli von Matt, S., Elia, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (Eds.), Media Journalism in the Attention Cycle. Problems, Perspectives, Visions Lugano: Gianpiero Casagrande.
  18. Porlezza, C. (2004). Caso di studio: la Svizzera. In Corti, A. (Ed.), L'informazione su Internet. Inizia l'era della concretezza (pp. 42–54). Lugano: European Journalism Observatory, University of Lugano.

Conference papers and proceedings (4)

  1. McKay, D., Makri, S., Gutierrez-Lopez, M., MacFarlane, A., Missaoui, S., Porlezza, C. … Cooper, G. (2020). We are the change that we seek: Information interactions during a change of viewpoint.
  2. Komatsu, T., Lopez, M.G., Makri, S., Porlezza, C., Cooper, G., MacFarlane, A. … Missaoui, S. (2020). AI should embody our values: Investigating journalistic values to inform AI technology design.
  3. Missaoui, S., Gutierrez-Lopez, M., Macfarlane, A., Makri, S., Porlezza, C. and Cooper, G. (2019). How to Blend Journalistic Expertise with Artificial Intelligence for Research and Verifying News Stories. CHI 2019 4-9 May, Glasgow.
  4. Gutierrez-Lopez, M., Missaoui, S., Makri, S., Porlezza, C., Cooper, G. and Macfarlane, A. (2019). Journalists as Design Partners for AI. CHI 2019 4-9 May, Glasgow.

Internet publication

  1. Puppis, M. and Porlezza, C. (2009). Der Röhrenblick: Warum im Journalismus nicht alles auf die private Karte gesetzt werden sollte. Carta.

Journal articles (30)

  1. Schapals, A.K. and Porlezza, C. (2020). Assistance or Resistance? Evaluating the Intersection of Automated
    Journalism and Journalistic Role Conceptions.     Media and Communication, 8(3), pp. 16–26. doi:10.17645/mac.v8i3.3054.
  2. Porlezza, C. and Di Salvo, P. (2020). The Accountability and Transparency of Whistleblowing Platforms Issues of Networked Journalism and Contested Boundaries. Journalism Studies, 21(16), pp. 2285–2304. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2020.1842233.
  3. Salvo, P.D. and Porlezza, C. (2020). Hybrid professionalism in journalism: Opportunities and risks of hacker sources. Studies in Communication Sciences, 20(2), pp. 243–254. doi:10.24434/J.SCOMS.2020.02.007.
  4. Porlezza, C. and Salvo, P.D. (2020). Introduction: Hybrid journalism? Making sense of the field’s dissolving boundaries. Studies in Communication Sciences, 20(2), pp. 227–241. doi:10.24434/J.SCOMS.2020.02.004.
  5. Porlezza, C. and Splendore, S. (2019). From Open Journalism to Closed Data: Data Journalism in Italy. Digital Journalism, 7(9), pp. 1230–1252. doi:10.1080/21670811.2019.1657778.
  6. Porlezza, C. (2019). Book Review: Nicholas Diakopoulos Automating the news: How algorithms are rewriting the media. Journalism, 20(10), pp. 1417–1419. doi:10.1177/1464884919876179.
  7. Porlezza, C. (2019). From Participatory Culture to Participatory Fatigue: The Problem With the Public. Social Media and Society, 5(3). doi:10.1177/2056305119856684.
  8. Porlezza, C. (2019). Deconstructing data-driven journalism. Reflexivity between the datafied society and the datafication of news work. Problemi dell'informazione, 43(3), pp. 369–392. doi:10.1445/91658.
  9. Porlezza, C. (2018). Book Review: Dan Kennedy The Return of the Moguls. Journalism, 19(11), pp. 1629–1631. doi:10.1177/1464884918806364.
  10. Kus, M., Eberwein, T., Porlezza, C. and Splendore, S. (2017). Training or Improvisation?: Citizen journalists and their educational backgrounds—a comparative view. Journalism Practice, 11(2-3), pp. 355–372. doi:10.1080/17512786.2016.1221737.
  11. Porlezza, C. (2017). Under the influence: Advertisers’ impact on the content of Swiss free newspapers. Media and Communication, 5(2), pp. 31–40. doi:10.17645/mac.v5i2.901.
  12. Eberwein, T. and Porlezza, C. (2016). Both Sides of the Story: Communication Ethics in Mediatized Worlds. Journal of Communication, 66(2), pp. 328–342. doi:10.1111/jcom.12216.
  13. Porlezza, C. and Splendore, S. (2016). Accountability and transparency of entrepreneurial journalism: Unresolved ethical issues in crowdfunded journalism projects. Journalism Practice, 10(2), pp. 196–216. doi:10.1080/17512786.2015.1124731.
  14. Splendore, S., Di Salvo, P., Eberwein, T., Groenhart, H., Kus, M. and Porlezza, C. (2016). Educational strategies in data journalism: A comparative study of six European countries. Journalism, 17(1), pp. 138–152. doi:10.1177/1464884915612683.
  15. Fengler, S., Eberwein, T., Alsius, S., Baisnée, O., Bichler, K., Dobek-Ostrowska, B. … Zambrano, S.V. (2015). How effective is media self-regulation? Results from a comparative survey of European journalists. European Journal of Communication, 30(3), pp. 249–266. doi:10.1177/0267323114561009.
  16. Porlezza, C. (2014). Book review. Studies in Communication Sciences, 14(2), pp. 144–145. doi:10.1016/j.scoms.2014.12.004.
  17. Porlezza, C. (2012). Online Media Accountability – A New Frontier. Studies in Communication Sciences, 12(1), pp. 2–5.
  18. Porlezza, C. and Colapinto, C. (2012). Innovation in Creative Industries: From the Quadruple Helix Model to the Systems Theory. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3(4), pp. 343–353.
  19. Porlezza, C., Maier, S. and Russ-Mohl, S. (2012). News Accuracy in Switzerland and Italy. Journalism Practice, 6(4), pp. 530–546.
  20. Porlezza, C., Maier, S.R. and Russ-Mohl, S. (2012). News accuracy in switzerland and italy: A transatlantic comparison with the US press. Journalism Practice, 6(4), pp. 530–546. doi:10.1080/17512786.2011.650923.
  21. Porlezza, C., Russ-Mohl, S. and Zanichelli, M. (2010). Fehler über Fehler. Journalistik Journal, 13(2), pp. 16–17.
  22. Porlezza, C. (2008). Einer alten These verhaftet. Message, (2), pp. 98–98.
  23. Porlezza, C. (2008). Bröckelnde Mauern. Message, (4), pp. 99–100.
  24. Porlezza, C. and Russ-Mohl, S. (2006). Cultural Differences and Diversity in Communication Processes. Medienwissenschaft Schweiz, 1+2, pp. 5–6.
  25. Porlezza, C. (2006). Qualitätsmanagement durch Selbstbespiegelung. Funktionen und Potential des Medienjournalismus. Journalistik Journal, 9(2), pp. 10–10.
  26. Porlezza, C. (2006). Analytischer Blick auf den neuen Zeitungssport. Message, (3), pp. 105–106.
  27. Porlezza, C. (2005). Zwischen Selbstbeweihrächerung und Konkurrenzkritik. Medienjournalismus in der Schweiz - drei Fallstudien. Medienwissenschaft Schweiz, 1, pp. 64–68.
  28. Porlezza, C. (2005). Altered Realities. Studies in Communication Sciences, 5(1), pp. 231–232.
  29. Porlezza, C. (2005). Wie verrückt die Wahrnehmung ist. Message, (3).
  30. Porlezza, C. (2004). Die harmlosen Watch-Dogs. Zwischen Konkurrenzschelte und Selbstbeweihräucherung. Message, (3), pp. 96–98.

Reports (2)

  1. Hungerbühler, R., Lasagni, C., Benecchi, E., Cristelli, A., Franco Cabrera Grütter, V., Myftiu, J. … Porlezza, C. (2007). L'osservazione dei programmi radiotelevisivi nella Svizzera italiana. Lugano: University of Lugano.
  2. Porlezza, C. (2005). Medienraum Tessin. Zurich: Zurich University of Applied Sciences.