On November 18, the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto (FLUP) will host the IX ObCiber Days, with a conference and debate that seek to stimulate confrontation, reflexion and discussion about the past, present and future of cyberjournalism in Portugal. The ObCiber Days are events organized by the Observatory of Cyberjournalism in odd-numbered years, alternating with the International Congress of Cyberjournalism (even-numbered years). They are free to enter. The aim is to bring together experts in the field to analyze and debate central issues of cyberjournalistic practice and scientific contributions to a better understanding of this subfield.

This year’s edition is dedicated to “30 years of cyberjournalism in Portugal”, with the unprecedented presence at the same event of the three pioneers of Portuguese cyberjournalism: Helder Bastos and Nuno Marques (founders of jn.pt) and José Vítor Malheiros (founder of publico.pt). Jornal de Notícias and Público were the first two Portuguese media outlets (and the only ones in 1995) to publish journalistic content on the Internet. “Three decades of cyberjournalism: a return to a postponed future” is the title of the opening lecture, which will be given by Professor Helder Bastos, author of several works on the history of Portuguese cyberjournalism. Pedro Leal, general director of production and information at Renascença, João Porfírio, photo editor at Observador, Ana Pinto Martinho, researcher at ISCTE/IUL and OberCom, José Vítor Malheiros, founder of publico.pt, and Nuno Marques, co-founder of jn.pt and current deputy executive editor of Jornal de Notícias, will take part in the debate on “30 years of online journalism in Portugal: expectations and reality”, which will be moderated by Filipa Silva, editor of JPN – JornalismoPortoNet.

At the end of the conference, the winners will be announced and the diplomas awarded for the 18th edition of the Cyberjournalism Awards, which ObCiber has awarded every year since it was founded in 2008. The conference is organized by ObCiber – Observatório do Ciberjornalismo, CITCEM – Centro de Investigação Transdisciplinar Cultura, Espaço e Memória and FLUP – Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto.