Has COVID-19 promoted or discouraged a European Public Sphere? Comparative analysis of the Twitter interactions of German, French, Italian and Spanish MEPSs during the pandemic
Article Sidebar
261)
Main Article Content
Authors
Abstract
470
This comparative research analyses the political discussion through social media of the top list German, French, Italian and Spanish Members of the European Parliament during COVID-19 crisis times. Through content analysis, the article focuses on Twitter behaviours during a pandemic crisis period (March 23 to April 23, 2020). The study that analyses up to 14 (first listed MEPs) Twitter accounts and a total N of 2101 tweets looks at clarifying if the COVID-19 pandemic has promoted or discouraged the growth of a European Public Sphere. The results show that audience involvement depended on certain online conducts of the MEP rather than on his or her constant activity. Those behaviours produced as well that the COVID-19 debate was mostly restricted to the political elite, who neither allow European civil society to take part in the discussion or communicate to the general public with the aim of shaping a European Public Sphere.
Keywords
References
Adams, A. & McCorkindale, T. (2013). Dialogue and transparency: A content analysis of how the 2012 presidential candidates used Twitter. Public Relations Review, 39(4), 357-359.
Alonso-Muñoz, L. & Casero-Ripollés, A. (2018). Communication of European populist leaders on Twitter: Agenda setting and the ‘more is less’ effect. El profesional de la información, 27(6), 1193-1202.
Alonso-Muñoz, L., Miquel-Segarra, S. & Casero-Ripollés, A. (2016). Un potencial comunicativo desaprovechado. Twitter como mecanismo generador de diálogo en campaña electoral. Obra Digital, 11, 39-58. Retrieved from https://repositori/uji.es/xmlui/handle/10234/165180
Aruguete, N. (2017). The agenda setting hypothesis in the new media environment. Comunicación y sociedad, 28, 35-58. Retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5774166
Ausserhofer, J. & Maireder, A. (2013), National Politics on Twitter: Structures and Topics of a Networked Public Sphere Information, Communication & Society, 16(3), 291-314.
Barisione, M. & Michailidou, A. (Eds.). (2017). Social Media and European Politics: Rethinking Power and Legitimacy in the Digital Era. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bentivegna, S. (2015). A colpi di Tweet: la politica in prima persona. Bolonia: Il Mulino.
Bimber, B. (2014). Digital Media in the Obama campaign of 2008 and 2012: Adaptation to the personalized political communication environment, Journal of Information, Technology & Politics, 11(2), 130-150. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2014.895691
Blumler, J. & Kavanagh, D. (1999). The Third Age of political communication: Influences and Features. Political Communication, 16(3), 209-230. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/105846099198596
Bouza, L. & Tuñón, J. (2018). Personalización, distribución, impacto y recepción en Twitter del discurso de Macron ante el Parlamento Europeo el 17/04/18. El profesional de la información, 27(6), 1239-1247. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2018.nov.07
Bouza, L., Oleart, Á. & Tuñón, J. (2019). Framing EU trade policy online: the case of @NoAlTTIP on Twitter. Communication & Society, 32(4), 257-273. https://www.doi.org/10.15581/003.32.4.257-273
Bruns, A. & Enli, G. (2018). The Norwegian Twittersphere. Nordicom, 39, 1-20.
Bruns, A. & Burgess, J. (2011). The use of Twitter hashtags in the formation of ad hoc publics. In Proceedings of the 6th European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference 2011.
Canel, M. & Sanders, K. (2012). Government communication: An emerging field in political communication research. In H. Semetko & M. Scammell (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of political communication (pp. 85-96). London: SAGE.
Caiani, M. & Guerra, S. (Eds.) (2017). Euroscepticism, Democracy and the Media: Communicating Europe, Contesting Europe. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Campos-Domínguez, E. (2017). Twitter y la comunicación política. El Profesional de la Información, 26(5), 785-793. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.sep.01
Carracedo-Verde, J. (2002). La vigilancia en las sociedades de la información ¿un panóptico electrónico? Política y Sociedad, 39(2), 437-456. Retrieved from https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/POSO/article/view/POSO0202230437A
Carral, U. & Tuñón, J. (2020): Estrategias europeas de Comunicación Organizacional en redes sociales: análisis electoral de la extrema derecha francesa en Twitter. El profesional de la información, 29(5), 1-15 . Retrieved from http://www.elprofesionaldelainformacion.com/contenidos/2020/nov/carral-tunon.html
Casero-Ripollés, A. (2020). Impact of Covid-19 on the media system. Communicative and democratic consequences of news consumption during the outbreak. El profesional de la información, 29(2), e290223. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.mar.23
Chadwick, A. (2006). Internet politics: States, citizens and new communication technologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chaudhry, I. (2014). #Hashtags for change: Can Twitter promote social progress in Saudi Arabia? International journal of communication, 8, 943-961. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/2362
De-Wilde, P., Michailidou, A. & Trenz, H. (2015). Converging on Euroscepticism: Online polity contestation during European Parliament elections. European Journal of Political Research, 53(4), 766-783.
Díez-Medrano, J. (2003) Framing Europe. Attitudes to European Integration in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Duggan, M. (2015). Mobile messaging and social media 2015. Pew Research Centre. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015/
Elías, C. (2015). El selfie de Galileo. Software social, político e intelectual del siglo XXI. Barcelona: Península.
Enli, G. & Skogerbø, E. (2013). Personalized campaigns in party-centred politics: Twitter and Facebook as arenas for political communication. Information, Communication & Society, 16(5), 757-774. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.782330
Eom, Y., Puliga, M., Smailović, J., Mozetič, I. & Caldarelli, G. (2015). Twitter-based analysis of the dynamics of collective attention to political parties. PLOS ONE, 10(7), 1-17. https://www.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131184
Føllesdal, A. & Hix, S. (2006). Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU: A response to Majone and Moravcsik. Journal of Common Market Studies, 44(3), 533-562. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2006.00650.x
Gainous, J. & Wagner, K. (2014). Tweeting to power: The social media revolution in American politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199965076.0010001
Graham, T., Jackson, D. & Broersma, M. (2014). New platform, old habits? Candidate ‘use of Twitter during the 2010 British and Dutch general elections campaigns. New Media and Society, 18(5), 765-783. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1461444814546728
Golbeck, J., Grimes, J. & Rogers, A. (2010). Twitter use by the U.S. Congress. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61(8), 1612-1621. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/asi.21344
Hänska, M. & Bauchowitz S. (2018), #ThisIsACoup: The Emergence of an AntiAusterity Hashtag across Europe’s Twittersphere. In L. Basu, S. Schifferes & S. Knowles (Eds.), The Media and Austerity: Comparative Perspectives (pp. 248-260). London: Routledge.
Igartua, J., Ortega-Mohedano, F. & Arcila-Calderón, C. (2020). Communication use in the times of the coronavirus. A cross-cultural study. El profesional de la información, 29(3), e290318. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.18
Jackson, N. & Lilleker, D. (2011). Microblogging, constituency service and impression management: UK MPs and the use of Twitter. The journal of legislative studies, 17(1), 86-105. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2011545181
Jivkova-Semova, D., Requeijo-Rey, P. & Padilla-Castillo, G. (2017). Usos y tendencias de Twitter en la campaña a elecciones generales españolas del 20D de 2015: hashtags que fueron trending topic. El profesional de la información, 26(5), 824-837. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.sep.05
Jungherr, A., Schoen, H. & Jürgens, P. (2015). The mediation of politics through Twitter: An analysis of messages posted during the campaign for the German federal election 2013. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(1), 50-68. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12143
Karamichas, J. (2007). Key Issues in the Study of New and Alternative Social Movements in Spain: The Left, Identity and Globalizing Processes. South European Society and Politics, 12(3), 273–293.
Kreiss, D. (2016). Seizing the moment: The presidential campaigns’ use of Twitter during the 2012 electoral cycle. New Media & Society, 18(8), 1473–1490. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1461444814562445
Larsson, A. (2015). The EU Parliament on Twitter – Assessing the permanent online practices of parliamentarians. Journal of Information Technology & politics, 12(2), 149-166. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2014.994158
Larsson, A. & Kalsnes, B. (2014). “Of course we are on Facebook”: Use and non-use of social media among Swedish and Norwegian politicians. European Journal of Communication, 29(6), 653-667. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0267323114531383
Liebert, U. (2011). Exit, Voice or Loyalty? The New Politics of European Civil Society. In U. Liebert & H. Trenz (Eds.), The New Politics of European Civil Society (pp. 95-122). London; New York: Routledge.
Lilleker, D. & Koc-Michalska, K. (2014). Online election campaigning: Exploring supply and demand during the France 2012 presidential election. In A. Solo (Ed.), Political campaigning in the information age (pp. 287-304). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
López-García, G. (2016). New’ vs. ‘old’ leaderships: The campaign of Spanish general elections 2015 on Twitter. Comunicación y sociedad, 29(3), 149-168. https://www.doi.org/10.15581/003.29.3.149-168
López-Meri, A., Marcos-García, S. & Casero-Ripollés, A. (2017). What do politicians do on Twitter? Functions and communication strategies in the Spanish electoral campaign of 2016. El Profesional de la Información, 26(5), 795-804. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.sep.02
Maarek, P. (2011). Campaign communication and political marketing. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Maireder, A. & Schlögl, S. (2014). 24 Hours of #Outcry: The Networked Publics of a Socio-Political Debate. European Journal of Communication, 29(6), 687-702.
Maireder, A., Shlögl, S., Schütz, F. & Karwautz M. (2014), The European Political Twittersphere: Network of the Top Users Discussing the 2014 European Elections, GFK Working Paper.
Masip, P., Aran-Ramspott, S., Ruiz-Caballero, C., Suau, J., Almenar, E. & Puertas-Graell, D. (2020). Consumo informativo y cobertura mediática durante el confinamiento por el Covid-19: sobreinformación, sesgo ideológico y sensacionalismo. El profesional de la información, 29(3), e290312. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.12
Mazzoleni, G. (2001). La revolución simbólica de Internet. CIC, Cuadernos de Información y Comunicación, 6, 33-39. Retrieved from https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CIYC/article/view/CIYC0101110033A
Mosca, L. & Vaccari, C. (2011). Nuovi media, nuova política. Participazione e mobilitazione da MoveOn al Movimento 5 Sstelle. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Papacharissi, Z. & Oliveira, M. (2012). Affective news and networked publics: The rhythms of news storytelling on #Egypt Journal of communication, 62(2) 266-282. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01630.x
Papagianneas, S. (2017). Rebranding Europe. Fundamentals for leadership communication. Brussels: ASP editions.
Parmelee, J. & Bichard, S. (2012). Politics and the Twitter revolution. How tweets influence the relationship between political leaders and the public. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Pérez-Dasilva, J., Meso-Ayerdi, K. & Mendiguren-Galdospín, T. (2020). Fake news y coronavirus: detección de los principales actores y tendencias a través del análisis de las conversaciones en Twitter. El profesional de la información, 29(3), e290308. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.08
Peña-López, I., Congosto, M. & Aragón, P. (2014). Spanish Indignados and the evolution of the 15M movement on Twitter: towards networked para-institutions. Journal of Spanish cultural studies, 15(1-2), 189-216. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/14636204.2014.931678
Poloni-Staudinger, L. (2008). The Domestic Opportunity Structure and Supranational Activity: An explanation of environmental group activity at the European Union Level. European Union Politics, 9(4), 531-558.
Rahimi, B. (2011). The agonistic social media: Cyberspace in the formation of dissent and consolidation of state power in postelection Iran. Communication review, 14(3), 158-178. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2011.597240
Ruiz-Soler, J. (2018). The Last Will Be the First. A Study of European Issue Publics on Twitter. Partecipazione e conflitto, 11(2), 423-447.
Salaverría, R., Buslón, N., López-Pan, F., León, B., López-Goñi, I. & Erviti, M. (2020). Desinformación en tiempos de pandemia: tipología de los bulos sobre la Covid-19. El profesional de la información, 29(3), e290315. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.15
Sánchez-Murillo, L. (2005). El marketing político y sus consecuencias para la democracia. Comunicación y sociedad, 4, 11-38. Retrieved from http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/346/34600401.pdf
Sanjuán-Santoja, M. (2015). Nuevas formaciones políticas crecidas en Internet y su entrada en las elecciones europeas 2014: el caso de Movimiento RED, Podemos, Recortes Cero y Partido X. Revista Dígitos, 1, 71-90. https://www.doi.org/10.7203/rd.v0i1.4
Scherpereel, J., Wohlgemuth, J. & Schmelzinger, M. (2016). The adoption and use of Twitter as a re- presentational tool among members of the European Parliament. European politics and society, 18(2), 111-127. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2016.1151125
Scolari, C., Fernández-de-Azcárate, S., Garín, M., Guerrero, M., Jiménez, M., Martos, A., Obradors, M., Oliva, M., Pérez, Ó. & Pujadas, E. (2012). Narrativas transmediáticas, convergencia audiovisual y nuevas estrategias de comunicación. Quaderns del CAC, XV(1), 79-89. https://www.cac.cat/pfw_files/cma/recerca/quaderns_cac/Q38_scolari_et_al_ES.pdf
Sloan, L. & Quan-Haase, A. (2017). Introduction to the Handbook of Social Media Research Methods: Goals, Challenges and Innovations. In L. Sloan & A. Quan-Haase (Eds.), Social Media Research Methods. London: SAGE.
Stromer-Galley, J. (2014). Presidential campaigning in the Internet age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thelwall, M. & Thelwall, S. (2020). Covid-19 tweeting in English: Gender differences. El profesional de la información, 29(3), e290301. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.01
Theocharis, Y., Lowe, W., van-Deth, J. & García-Albacete, G. (2015). Using Twitter to mobilize protest action: Online mobilization patterns and action repertoires in the Occupy Wall Street, Indignados, and Aganaktismenoi movements Information, communication and society, 18(2), 202-220. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2014.948035
Tuñón, J. (2017). Comunicación internacional. Información y desinformación global en el siglo XXI. Madrid: Fragua.
Tuñón, J. (2021). Europa frente al Brexit, el Populismo y la Desinformación. Supervivencia en tiempos de fake news. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch.
Tuñón, J. & Bouza, L. (Eds.) (2021). Europa en tiempos de desinformación y pandemia. Granada: Comares.
Tuñón, J., Bouza, L. & Carral, U. (2019). Comunicación europea ¿A quién doy like para hablar con Europa? Madrid: Dykinson.
Tuñón, J. & Carral, U. (2019): Twitter como solución a la comunicación europea. Análisis comparado en Alemania, Reino Unido y España. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74(63), 1219-1234. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1380
Tuñón, J. & Catalán, D. (2020). Comparación de las estrategias de campaña online para albergar la Agencia Europea de Medicamentos. El profesional de la información, 29(2), e290225. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.mar.25
Tuñón, J., Oleart, Á. y Bouza, L. (2019). Actores europeos y Desinformación: la disputa entre el factchecking, las agendas alternativas y la geopolítica. Revista De Comunicación, 18(2), 245-260. https://www.doi.org/10.26441/RC18.2-2019-A12
Valera-Ordaz, L. & Sørensen, M. (2019). Towards a European public sphere? A comparative study of the Facebook activities of Danish and Spanish members of the European Parliament. El profesional de la información, 28(6), e280511. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.nov.11
Van-Aelst, P., Sheafer, T. & Stanyer, J. (2012). The personalization of mediated political communication: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings Journalism, 13(2), 1-18.
Veerger, M., Hermans, L. & Sams, S. (2013). Online social networks and micro-blogging in political campaigning: The exploration of a new campaign tool and a new campaign style. Party politics, 7(3), 477-501. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1354068811407580
Metrics
|
|
Details
Article Details
RIGHTS TRANSFER
By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communication & Society, the AUTHOR exclusively assigns the rights of public communication, reproduction, distribution and sale for commercial exploitation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal term in force -the entire life of the author and seventy years after his death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future edition modalities, both in print and electronic versions.
In the event that the article is not accepted for publication , this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.
The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.
