Abandoning Reportage and Proximity in Journalism: There Is No Time, No Money, and No People to Leave the Newsroom More Often

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article discusses a necessary theme for journalism studies: how to make the proximity criterion even more powerful in a world full of artificial conveniences? The text is well-written and, although the methodological approach is not particularly innovative, it is adequate for its purpose. Conversations with 111 Portuguese journalists offer an interesting perspective on how the concept of proximity resonates in newsrooms. Perhaps it would have been interesting to mention which topics these professionals believe are evaluated using the proximity criterion. Finally, I commend the idea and recommend that issues like this continue to be investigated so that we can understand the professional realities of different countries.

Author Response

Comments 1: The article discusses a necessary theme for journalism studies: how to make the proximity criterion even more powerful in a world full of artificial conveniences? The text is well-written and, although the methodological approach is not particularly innovative, it is adequate for its purpose. Conversations with 111 Portuguese journalists offer an interesting perspective on how the concept of proximity resonates in newsrooms.

Response 1: Thank you for the attentive reading and for the feedback. We appreciate your recognition of the relevance of the topic. We also value your comments on the methodological approach, since it is not innovative, but we believe that the amount of answers do offer that interesting perspective.

 

Comments 2: Perhaps it would have been interesting to mention which topics these professionals believe are evaluated using the proximity criterion.

Response 2: Indeed, we could have included that topic, attempting to relate the concept of proximity to a specific thematic area of journalism, in order to understand whether journalists feel that there is any particular field (sports, culture, politics, etc.) that is closer to them or that allows them to practice proximity journalism more effectively. This aspect escaped us when we designed the questionnaire. It will remain for a future opportunity.

Comments 3: Finally, I commend the idea and recommend that issues like this continue to be investigated so that we can understand the professional realities of different countries.

Response 3: Thank you very much, we shall continue this work

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is conventional and acceptable from a formal standpoint. The work is based on survey responses. The results are consistent. The conclusions are acceptable.
The scientific article is not very ambitious. The methodology should incorporate some in-depth interviews and/or focus groups to better address the research question.
The provided bibliography is correct but insufficient. It is heavily focused on Portuguese authors, all of whom have produced interesting work in the field, but there is literature from other countries that should be cited.

Examples:
Negreira-Rey, M. C. (2024). From the Capital to the Neighborhood: The Hyperlocal Media Model in the Spanish Context. Journalism Practice, 18(10), 2547–2567. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2159499
María-Cruz Negreira-Rey, Xosé López-García, AnaIsabel Rodríguez-Vázquez, « Local cybermedia
and hyperlocals in Spain and Portugal. The phase of
search for models », Sur le journalisme, About
journalism, About journalism
[En ligne, online], Vol 7, n°2 - 2018, December 15 -
December 15 - December 15. URL: http://www.
surlejournalisme.com/rev
Garusi, D., Juarez Miro, C., & Hanusch, F. (2026). Local journalists and the construction of social identities. A phenomenological approach. Journalism, 27 (4), 903-921.
Heiselberg, L., & Hopmann, D. N. (2024). Local journalism and its audience. Journalism, 25(12), 2543-2563.

Čakš, P., Kožuh, I., & Žilič Fišer, S. (2025). Journalistic Roles and Community Expectations: External and Internal Challenges for Local Investigative Journalism. Journalism Practice, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2025.2582166

Rivas-de-Roca, Rubén (2025). "Indicadores de valor social en el periodismo local: propuesta desde y para la profesión [Social value indicators in local journalism: a proposal from and for the profession]”. En: Dinu, N. R.; Baiget, T. (eds.). Divulgación, Transferencia e Impacto Social de la Ciencia. Granada: Ediciones Profesionales de la Información. ISBN: 978-84-125757-2-9 https://doi.org/10.3145/codi2025/002 

Hess, K., Ross, A., McAdam, A., Blakston, A., Forde, S., Ricketson, M., & Martin, H. (2026). Putting news in its place: An index measurement tool to evaluate local news access. Journalism, 0(0).

The starting point for this literature review should be this essential book: Local Journalism and Local Media: Making the Local News, edited by Bob Franklin.

In any case, it is considered necessary to incorporate a state-of-the-art review with more internationalized literature and to submit the interview results to an expert focus group or, alternatively, to interview a group of experts on these relevant issues regarding journalists' views on reporting in local journalism.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

I have nothing to say about English

Author Response

 Comments 1: The article is conventional and acceptable from a formal standpoint. The work is based on survey responses. The results are consistent. The conclusions are acceptable.

Response 1: Thank you very much for your thoughtful and constructive feedback.

Comments 2: The scientific article is not very ambitious. The methodology should incorporate some in-depth interviews and/or focus groups to better address the research question.

Response 2: We acknowledge your suggestion regarding the inclusion of in-depth interviews and/or focus groups, which could indeed provide a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the research question. We are planning to continue our work and the qualitative approach will be very useful to understand this reality. This methodological addition is very interesting, but not at this stage of the study. This article focuses on the quantitative results of the first phase of the research, which, from our perspective as lecturers and researchers in the field, and given that there is nothing similar in the Portuguese or Iberian context, we still consider highly relevant.

Comments 3: The provided bibliography is correct but insufficient. It is heavily focused on Portuguese authors, all of whom have produced interesting work in the field, but there is literature from other countries that should be cited.

Response 3: We have considered the references.

Comments 4: In any case, it is considered necessary to incorporate a state-of-the-art review with more internationalized literature and to submit the interview results to an expert focus group or, alternatively, to interview a group of experts on these relevant issues regarding journalists' views on reporting in local journalism.

Response 4: Thank you for the contribution. We have inserted more internationalized literature. As for the suggestions concerning methodology, it is not the goal of this particular article, but it will happen later in our study.

We also appreciate the kindness in sending the list of international reference works; however, we note that they are largely centered on the analysis of local media, which is not the objective of this study's theoretical framework—quite the opposite. Although we acknowledge the immediate association between proximity journalism and local media, national media can and should also practice proximity journalism as part of their routine practices. Therefore, we will include some international bibliography, but not one that restricts the relationship between proximity and journalism solely to local media.