From TV debate to cyber debate on twitter: Frames of influence in the general elections in Spain (28A)

Abstract

The televised electoral debate, far from losing prominence in favor of social media, is confirmed to be a key instrument for political communication. The two televised events prior to the general elections of 28 April in Spain, which were broadcast 24 hours apart (by RTVE and Atresmedia), raised great expectations and prioritized a conflictive atmosphere. The objectives of this study are to determine the issues, strategies, and discursive ploys of the leader-influencers and to analyze the rhetorical features of the political language on Twitter. In the context of these two electoral debates (22 and 23 April, 2019), a comparative quantitative, qualitative, and discursive content analysis methodology is applied to a general sample of messages on TV (n1 = 2,892) and a specific sample of tweets published on the accounts of the political parties (n2 = 190). The issues debated (issue frame), the candidates’ strategies (game frame), and the level of influence on Twitter are analyzed through propaganda and fallacy mechanisms. The results confirm that both debates covered homogeneous themes with an active response from the audience and a trend towards fake spectacularized discourse.