A community of professionals with advanced and diverse expertise in broadcast media joins forces with leading academia to study the implications of digital transformation and the challenges it poses to regional TV and Radio across Europe.
On 4 October 2023 the CIRCOM Regional Secretary General Fernando Ojea and Manuel Reigosa, the Rector of the University of Vigo (UVigo) from Spain, signed the Agreement for Collaboration.
“We hope that this will be an alliance for the future and that together we will achieve a better future for Europe and for the world of communication”, Prof. Reigosa said.
A joint CIRCOM Regional – UVigo Chair will be set to research digitalisation in European regional audiovisual media. The Chair will be headed by Prof. José Rúas, from the UVigo Faculty of Communication. He will lead a team of scientists to carry out a qualitative study and media mapping to track down and understand the adaptation to the digital transformation in European regional public televisions.
"Regional television stations are very heterogeneous organizations. There is a different model in each country and it is not that easy to structure this information", said Fernando Ojea, Secretary General of CIRCOM Regional. “It is an advantage to have a partner such as the University of Vigo that allows us to understand the reality of each case and share information on digital transformation and internal transformation in newsrooms and media organizations", he added.
The current Agreement will focus on innovations and digitalization in European regional public service media and will assess also the needs of the audiovisual sector. The collaboration will reflect in publication of scientific papers and reports based on the prospective mutual research as well as hold other educational events. To partner Prof. Rúas, Dr. Zoran Medved, Member of the CR European Board, will act as Project Manager on behalf of CIRCOM.
The Agreement for Collaboration between CIRCOM Regional and University of Vigo enters into force on 5 October 2023 with duration of one year. CRTVG, the Galician regional public service broadcasting media, is sponsoring the Agreement.