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Contemporary mediation gravitates around platforms, central structures where users and content converge. As the pivotal format for mediation through sound, intersecting culture, economy, technology and social processes, podcasting has drawn the attention of platforms which have been investing heavily on attracting/retaining producers and listeners alike, by facilitating production, securing the rights to exclusive content, and providing unique ways to interact with content. In this article we analyze Spotify's Top Podcast rankings in Portugal, using descriptive analysis to identify and characterize content, to determine how discovery is promoted and how diverse is the content being presented to users, determining their perception of the format. We argue that content diversity is central to a format that has become mainstream within contemporary digital and audio culture, through the convergence of independent and mainstream producers in the unique content sphere of podcasting. Platforms may be regarded as enabling agents for this process, having become both audio discovery ecosystems and gatekeepers for the format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media literacy, which encompasses skills and knowledge considered essential for civic participation in social, political, and professional life, is an area that has been growing steadily. In Portugal, there is a wide range of entities that have developed media literacy initiatives, from public entities, universities, research centers, training centers, media organizations, among others. These actors are adopting different approaches and media literacy is being promoted through training, academic publications, social projects, and learning platforms. These actions, carried out in more or less formal environments, are aimed at different target audiences, from pre-school children to the elderly. Based on the multiplicity of theoretical approaches to the concept of media literacy, this study seeks to understand the extent to which this diversity is reflected in the multiplicity of actors, approaches and target audiences involved in promoting media literacy in Portugal. To achieve this goal, using two analysis grids, one dedicated to the actors and the other to their interventions, a mapping of Portuguese entities dedicated to media literacy was carried out, seeking to identify the types of organizations and the professional areas to which they belong, their target audiences, the incidence of literacy promoted, and the pedagogical tools used. The results are presented in the form of a taxonomy of the actors involved in the operationalization of media literacy initiatives in Portugal, making it possible to characterize the landscape of this literacy promotion and its constituent networks, as well as to identify areas to be explored and the types of target audiences in need of initiatives aimed at their needs. The identification of empirical practices to promote media literacy in Portugal also makes it possible to contribute to the global theoretical-conceptual debate on the subject, particularly in terms of the volatility of the concept, its propensity for change and its readaptation according to the contexts in which it is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In order to understand the role of contemporary journalism and the media system it is vital to consider consumers' relationship with news content in terms of trust and perception of dubious content. This analysis is particularly relevant in a context where intense flows of information raise serious questions about individual ability to interpret, validate, and reproduce content. This analysis explores a news literacy scale used by Maskl et al. (2015) and Fletcher (in Newman et al., 2018) to investigate the links between news literacy profiles and their relationship with content, with particular focus on illegitimate/doubtful news pieces. Results suggest individuals with higher news literacy tend to trust news in general but not when content originates in social media. Higher literacy profiles are also associated with increased concern regarding online content legitimacy. These conclusions are particularly relevant in the currently volatile media sphere, highly dependent on a substantially informed public to ensure the legitimacy and importance of journalistic content and to distinguish it from other kinds of content flooding communication networks. These efforts depend not only on the journalistic sphere but also on democratic systems themselves as they rely on a well-informed public to guarantee a healthy and inclusive debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]