Abstract

Based on a sample of articles published by The New York Times in 2017 covering three important political issues, this research quantifies the number of tweets that end being used as journalistic sources. With the president of the United States, Donald Trump, as the main protagonist, the results point to the fact that Twitter statements are consolidated as a content used on a recurring basis also in the most reliable media. In this way, the study contributes to deepen into the changes that the social network has introduced in the use of journalistic sources in the field of hard news.

Abstract

The core hypothesis of the theory of agenda setting is that there is a process of transfer of salience from the media agenda to the public agenda. Since its original conception in the early 1970s, the explanatory model of ‘issue-agenda setting’ (first level) has been extended to help explain the transfer of the media’s ‘attribute agenda’ (second level) and ‘network agenda’ (third level) to the public agenda. This article provides a review of the agenda-setting model and its theoretical and empirical development, ending with a section that summarizes and discusses research studies published in this area in the last five years in Spain. Despite the broad influence of the agenda-setting theory in communication research in this country, Despite the broad influence of the agenda-setting theory in communication research in this country, many of the studies use the theory as a general framework for conducting a content analysis, withouh empirically testing any process of salience transfer.

Abstract

Convictions of political corruption depend on public communication, since for citizens, to perceive deviant behaviours, these must receive attention. In Spain, this type of behaviour is part of the agendas of citizens, media, and politicians and, to fight against it, accountability is essential. In addition to the judiciary and legislature (in their oversight role), the media and social media help voters, MPs and others to make informed decisions and press for action. However, the interrelationships between different agents, types, and forms of control for accountability are a rather unexplored research topic, especially when considering non-accountable institutions (those that have power, but are not directly accountable to the electorate, such as the monarchy). The debate on the inviolability of the emeritus presents a perfect scenario to describe what formulas and what kind of sanctions (legal, labour, reputational or personal) for accountability have occurred in Spain in the case of a non-accountable institution. This study explores the agendas of media, Parliament, and Twitter (and their inter-influences) during the Geneva papers scandal. We analyzed 189,037 tweets, 1,220 journalistic pieces and 78 parliamentary initiatives related to the former monarch. The main results show that the media, social networks, and Parliament have acted as agents of accountability with Juan Carlos I, as if it were an accountable institution. Online newspapers and Twitter have led the oversight, while the parliamentary initiative has been ineffective and has essentially served as an instrument of partisan communication.

Abstract

According to the sociology of public problems, the construction, visibility, and stabilization of a public problem require the mobilization of collectives of citizens interested in the issue, which act as an active entity in demanding actions and policies. One such issue is the depopulation of rural areas in Spain, which has shifted from a geographically localized problem to a matter of state policy. This article investigates the influence of framing in this process, analyzing a corpus of 5,980 headlines from newspapers in the Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, and Castile and Leon regions of Spain as well as from two national media outlets, corresponding to the period 2012–2021. Through the application of statistical analyses of lexical frequency in stages, the most significant terms in the evolution of the media’s coverage of the issue have been identified, which has made it possible to observe the appearance and displacement of concepts and their relationship to the most important milestones of social and political mobilization. In addition, its power to stir up sentiment in socio-political discourse has been explored. The consolidation of depopulation as a stable element in the Spanish media agenda, going beyond the regional sphere and having a presence dissociated from specific events through time, in contrast to what occurred some years ago, stands out. Finding a media-friendly frame -empty Spain [España vacía] and emptied Spain [España vaciada]- may have been a key element in this.