Abstract
Rediscussing the role, purpose and meaning of journalism under the circumstances of a radically changed communication paradigm has become a necessity, not only in universities, but also in the public sphere. Today, billions of people, new technology users, who consume and produce media content (text, photo, audio-visual), form different audiences for journalistic bodies, be it mainstream or alternative media outlets. The social media era, the era of participatory web and post-truth relativizes and greatly dilutes the perception about conventional journalism, because of multiple forms and emerging modalities of producing and sharing content: from relevant niche blogs to ad hoc created ones, that serve electoral purposes; from collaborative civic platforms, containing relevant information, to biased websites that aim to influence and manipulate the decisions of the electorate. Therefore, it becomes more and more difficult for regular media users to distinguish between digital content that targets common good and public interest, on one hand and content with tremendous political or economic interest, on the other hand.