REV - Communication & Society - Volumen 35, N. 2 (2022)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10171/63334
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Results
- Production values as program quality signals in Spanish linear TV: A comparison of two periods(2022-04-01) Guerrero-Perez, E. (Enrique); Kimber, D. (David)Technology disruption, digitalization and media convergence have triggered a profound crisis in the television industry. In this context, quality is an essential strategic element for success, especially when consumers have learned through their experience with VOD, becoming more demanding and less loyal customers. Then, has the importance of quality signals changed with the emergence of new online alternatives? And the quality perception among viewers? Our research explores four production values (the host, content, the set, and technical quality) as TV program quality signals and their effect on the quality perception of entertainment programs of Spanish broadcasters. We compare two years: 2012 and 2016, a period during which the Spanish television market changed due to appearance of OTT services. Using t-tests and regression models, we establish that the importance of quality signals varied over this period, with content proving more important and the set less so in 2016 as compared with 2012. Additionally, in 2016, the results show that the quality perception of linear TV entertainment programs depended more on subjective elements such as liking and satisfaction than on objective elements, as it was in 2012. Finally, our findings are discussed, and some managerial implications and future research are suggested.
- State disinformation: emotions at the service of the cause(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Amado, A. (Adriana); Gómez-Iniesta, P. (Pablo); Manfredi-Sánchez, J.L. (Juan Luis)Disinformation is not only a phenomenon of modern democratic societies, but also a tool at the service of states. In the current communication ecosystem, politics and society interrelate in the face of a phenomenon characterised by multiple information channels and sources in which emotions now play a central role. In international relations, the expression of a state’s political will through charisma and populism are the chief aspects detected in the analysis of emotions in political science. This has led to the construction of a narrative based on security threats and the friend-enemy distinction, among other things. On the basis of an exhaustive literature review, this study offers an overview of the political and social factors underlying the use of emotions in disinformation as regards four aspects: politics, economy, diplomacy and security. Likewise, it identifies the main defining traits and behaviours of domestic and international audiences. The analysis and verification of the research question contribute to elaborate an international theory of emotionally driven disinformation which has begun to play a leading role in both academia and politics.
- Public relations and dissent: Anti-racism digital advocacy Portuguese case study(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Müller, N. (Naíde)Social media platforms are being used to shift the balance of power, functioning as tools of resistance for activist publics on social justice issues. This article uses a postmodern approach to public relations with the purpose of clarifying the role of dissensus in social media contexts, connecting it to the principles of the ethics of care that promote dialogue but not necessarily with the aim of achieving consensus. Scholars and practitioners can claim a broader role for public relations in society by considering and analyzing conflicting perspectives in digital communication as a way to engage with activist struggles in social justice and human rights causes. By applying critical discourse analysis (CDA) to a case study that articulates interdisciplinary concepts, this research analyzes the first national weekly Portuguese newspaper Expresso support for the anti-racist cause through its promotion of a manifesto and a Facebook post against racist intimidation. In a contemporary society characterized by fragmentation, taking a public stance on important social and political issues, as in the case analyzed, demands moving beyond consensus-driven communication. The data confirm that social media platforms are not necessarily dialogic spaces and that conflicting communicative perspectives may be a useful way to analyze social change in public relations theory and practice. By taking a public stand against racist intimidation, assuming the possible alienation of specific publics –and “Facebook bullying”– this private newspaper also demonstrated the practical application of the assumptions of the ethics of care.
- Political and structural elements influencing the credibility of news on social networking sites(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Lagares-Díez, N. (Nieves); Pereira-López, M. (María); López-López, P.C. (Paulo Carlos)During lockdown, as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis in 2020, the majority of Spanish people (70% of social media users) were exposed to a social media consumer space: news without journalistic filters, with a multitude of fake data and a systematic existence of misinformation that has had a close relationship with the perception of credibility. 1,000 surveys were conducted between March 30 and April 30, in Spain. This work describes the consumption patterns of political parties in social networking sites, describing the facts that determine to what extent Spanish people trust the news they receive. The amount of information consumed online, age and the party identification with Vox and Ciudadanos are the most relevant communicative, structural or political variables that explain the increase or decrease in the credibility of the information that Spaniards receive through these channels.
- Virality, only the tip of the iceberg: ways of spread and interaction around COVID-19 misinformation in Twitter(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Martin, A. (Alejandro); Rodríguez, G. (Guillermo); Souto-Rico, M. (Mónica)Misinformation has long been a weapon that helps the political, social, and economic interests of different sectors. This became more evident with the transmission of false information in the COVID-19 pandemic, compromising citizens’ health by anti-vaccine recommendations, the denial of the coronavirus and false remedies. Online social networks are the breeding ground for falsehoods and conspiracy theories. Users can share viral misinformation or publish it on their own. This encourages a double analysis of this issue: the need to capture the deluge of false information as opposed to the real one and the study of users’ patterns to interact with that infodemic. As a response to this, our work combines the use of artificial intelligence and journalism through fact-checked false claims to provide an in-depth study of the number of retweets, likes, replies, quotes and repeated texts in posts stating or contradicting misinformation in Twitter. The large sample of tweets was collected and automatically analysed through Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, not to give all the attention only to the posts with a big impact but to all the messages contributing to the expansion of false information or its rejection regardless of their virality. This analysis revealed that the diffusion of tweets surrounding coronavirus-related misinformation is not only a domain of viral tweets, but also from posts without interactions, which represent most of the sample, and that there are no big differences between misinformation and its contradiction in general, except for the use of replies.
- COVID-19 vaccine disinformation on YouTube: analysis of a viewing network(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Cano-Orón, L. (Lorena); Llorca-Abad, G. (Germán); Calvo, D. (Dafne)COVID-19 has generated a social crisis that has required the production of vast amounts of information of various types, including medical. In this scenario, hoaxes and fake news about health issues have also increased, encouraging disobedience of lockdown restrictions and opposition to vaccination against the disease. At the same time, because of their structure and functioning, social media networks have facilitated the production and distribution of such false information. YouTube has also been identified as a source of medical information including COVID-19 hoaxes. This research focusses on an analysis of a video viewing network on YouTube to trace the connection between various videos recommended on the platform and determine the content of the videos that compose that network. To achieve this, we carry out a content analysis supported by specialised software to extract and analyse the videos. The results reveal a limited network of videos about COVID-19, strongly related to each other. Its amateur aesthetic stands out, as well as the frequent appearance of certain personalities who, as opinion leaders in a scenario of the delegitimization of traditional institutions, become catalysts for hoaxes and fake news that call for civil disobedience and, sometimes, show links with the extreme right.
- Problematic internet use: the preference for online social interaction and the motives for using the Internet as a mediating factor(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Pastor-Ruiz, Y. (Yolanda); López-de-Ayala-López, M.C. (María Cruz); Catalina-García, B. (Beatriz)The preference for online social interaction has been seen as an antecedent for problematic use of the Internet and social networks, which is associated with problems of social anxiety and a lack of social skills. Based on a survey with a representative sample of 524 students in Compulsory Secondary Education (aged 12-14) in the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain), the role of motives of use as a factor that explains the problematic use of the Internet has been analysed as a mediating component between such problematic use and the preference for online social interaction. The results show that only when social networks are used to expand relationships and as a form of self-expression are there negative consequences for the individual, but not when such networks are used to maintain close relationships. Finally, is has been observed that such motives, which moderately predict problematic use, only slightly explain in part the relationship between the preference for online social interaction and problematic use. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate other motives for use that mediate this association, as well as the connection between the motive to expand social relationships together with self-expression, and other pre-existing personality factors that might lead to problematic use of the Internet and social networks.
- The political irruption of short video: Is TikTok a new window for Spanish parties?(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Sánchez-Castillo, S. (Sebastián); Gamir-Ríos, J. (José)This paper analyses the use of TikTok by the main Spanish parties. The article studies the intensity of use of the short video social network by the accounts of the Partido Popular, Vox, Podemos and Ciudadanos, their narratives and themes, and the views obtained based on them. The research applies a content analysis to the videos published by these groups from account creation until the end of 2020, a period in which the PSOE had no presence. The corpus amounts to 182 units of analysis. The results show that the partisan use of TikTok is still in its infancy and that its intensive use is limited to newly emerging parties, with more favourable results for the most polarised groupings. Moreover, the parties do not adapt to the platform's own narrative codes, without this influencing the impact of their publications; the thematic diversity does have an impact, however. In general, the ideological orientation of the videos is greater than the sectoral orientation, in line with the polarisation in which Western democracies are immersed.
- Santiago Abascal’s Twitter and Instagram strategy in the 10 November 2019 General Election Campaign: A populist approach to discourse and leadership?(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Zugasti, R. (Ricardo); Pallarés-Navarro, S. (Sandra)While the scholarly consensus is that VOX is a far-right political party in European terms, questions remain regarding whether or not its politics contain elements of populism. This research paper explores the Twitter and Instagram strategy deployed by Santiago Abascal, leader of VOX, during the 10 November 2019 general election campaign to assess whether his messaging includes characteristic features of populist rhetoric, to analyze the uses to which he puts social media, and to understand the features of the leadership he projects via social networks. The research methodology is content analysis applied to the 136 and 26 posts on Abascal’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, respectively, during the election campaign. The findings suggest that Abascal’s discourse is marked by a conservative and nativist form of Spanish nationalism; however, it is also shaped by an anti-establishment rhetoric and antagonistic message that pits la España Viva [‘Living Spain’] against la dictadura progre [‘the progressive dictatorship’], reflecting the inclusion of some features of populism. A further conclusion is that these social media platforms are the preferred propaganda tools used to communicate the candidate’s agenda, although each network evinces certain distinctive characteristics: Twitter channels a polarizing message via aggressive and critical rhetoric, whereas Instagram posts are designed to show the human side of the candidate’s profile. Thus, it would seem that the aim is to articulate a populist-inflected form of charismatic leadership.
- Research on News Sharing. A Proposal of bibliometric analysis(Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, 2022) Antona-Jimeno, T. (Tamara); Raquel; Vicent-Ibáñez, M. (Mireya)This study seeks to establish whether news sharing in social media is a mature field of research by using bibliometrics as a tool. The Web of Science database was searched for articles that contained the term ‘news sharing’ in titles, keywords, and abstracts. A total of 133 articles was obtained, which enabled us to address the question of whether there are well-established journals and authors that cover the subject. The results show a certain ambiguity, which could explain why the chosen subject matter is often studied in fields outside of Communication Studies; however, while studies on news sharing are conducted by researchers from heterogeneous fields, this has not translated into greater interdisciplinarity.