Political tweets as new example of cynical journalism based on statements. A comparative study of the breakthrough of the far-right in Andalusia

Abstract

Digital platforms have changed the traditional cycle of political information. In this context, journalism is characterized by collecting political statements, moving away from its social function of providing keys for understanding the facts. A question of interest is whether Twitter acts as a sounding board for a journalism based on statements, rather than as a direct communication channel between politicians and citizens. For this reason, the objective of this research is to analyse the interrelationship between journalism based on statements and political communication on Twitter, within the framework of the Andalusian regional elections held in 2018. We study the effects of the emergence of a far-right movement on the communication flow of the rest of political parties, putting the focus on the similarity of its messages with the discursive media polarization. Through content analysis, a preference for non-issue contents is observed in the campaign.