Online journalism and territorial development. The case of the Graffici.ca site in Canada

Abstract

This text presents the case study of the web site Graffici.ca originated in 2011 in the Gaspésie, a region of the Province of Quebec in the extreme east of Canada. It is based on a participant observation performed during two and a half years, when the web site was created due to a movement focused on creating a tool for the territory’s development. This project was based in the acceptance of the imaginary of “pub- lic service” that has dominated the reflection about journalism at the end of the 20 th century. This case is an example of thedislocation of the historic binomial territory media that is occurring under the impact of transterritorial media, mainly satellite television and internet. The study concludes explaining that Graffici.ca despite its intention of being directed only to the gaspesian community, it has positioned itself as a public information service, nonspecialized, among other Gaspésie media (translated by Salvador De León Vázquez).