“Apart but together”. Proximity to Audiences in Times of Pandemic: The Case of the Italian daily L’Eco di Bergamo

Figures & data

Table 1. Criteria for categorizing initiatives according to their main dimension.

	Gatekeeping dimension	Social dimension	Commercial dimension
Initiative’s main purpose	Including audiences in news production	Including audiences in actions that encourage social interaction and/or mutual aid	Including audiences in actions that enhance customer loyalty and/or (indirectly) generate a commercial benefit for the newspaper
Types of initiative	Invitation to submit material, meeting between journalists and audiences, poll on current issues, etc.	Social gathering, thematic conference, mutual help action, etc.	Financial campaign, marketing action, subscribers’ club, etc.

Source: Author.

Figure 1. Distribution of 2020 initiatives by main dimension. Initiatives suspended due to COVID-19 appear in lighter color. Source: Author.

Figure 2. Impact of COVID-19 on 2020 initiatives. Source: Author.

Figure 3. New initiatives by month in 2019 (n=24). Source: Author.

Figure 4. New initiatives by month in 2020 (n=37). Source: Author.

Table 2. Initiatives launched between March and May in 2019 and 2020.

	2019	2020	Variation
Commercial initiatives	0	2 (13.3%)	+13.3 points
Gatekeeping initiatives	5 (90%)	8 (53.3%)	−36.7 points
Social initiatives	1 (10%)	5 (33.3%)	+23.3 points

Source: Author.

Figure 5. The plural figure of audiences, informed by the three dimensions of proximity. Source: Author.