El debate de la actualidad periodística española en Twitter: Del corporativismo de periodistas y políticos al activismo ciudadano

Abstract

News acquire a new dimension due to social networks like Twitter. In this platform, citizens discuss and gain influence in issues traditionally reserved to media. Journalists are no longer limited only to inform. Politicians have a new line to talk directly with voters. Social movements take benefit of the viral nature of Twitter to denounce the abuses of power. To evaluate the reach of these changes in journalism and political communication, the strategies used by each kind of actor on Twitter are examined in this paper through the methodologies of the content analysis and framing studies applied in the cases of #ArdeValencia (forest fires in Valencia) and #25N (elections in Catalonia). Both hashtags refer to events happened in Spain in 2012. Findings show that traditional actors in the public sphere, such as journalists and politicians, tend to promote themselves without interacting with others, while collectives of citizens seem interested in supervising political parties and politicians at least during electoral campaigns. Furthermore, a partisan use of tag #ArdeValencia is detected in order to discredit the Valencian Government.