La representación de los políticos en revistas femeninas de alta gama: Un estudio de caso.

The increasing speculation that the policy has experienced in the evolution of its relationship with media and citizens has become a major source of content for mass media that intends to provide informative products blended with entertainment. About this dominant trend known as "infotainment", most research is linked to the advancement of television, which has generated a false feeling of emptiness on the existence of “soft news” about politicians (and specifically about women politicians), in printed media. Given the lack of scientific background to explain the presence of the phenomenon beyond the television market, this study analyzes the representation of male and female leaders in highend women's magazines (RFAG) 'Glamour', 'Telva', 'Woman' , 'Elle' and 'Vogue', through interviews published in 2011 on the occasion of the elections to the Spanish Parliament. From a comparative and gender perspective, the objective of this analysis seeks to highlight the proliferation of a particular format: the “soft interview”, composed of personal questions alternated with professional questions, with a greater role of the first option when the gender of the interviewee is femaleLa creciente espectacularización que ha experimentado la política en la evolución de su relación con medios y ciudadanos se ha convertido en una de las principales fuentes de contenido para los mass media que persiguen ofrecer al público productos informativos mezclados con entretenimiento. Sobre esta preponderante tendencia conocida como “infotainment”, el grueso de investigaciones publicadas aparece ligado al avance de la televisión, lo que ha generado una falsa impresión de vacío sobre la existencia de “noticias blandas” protagonizadas por políticos (y más concretamente por políticas), en medios impresos. Ante la falta de antecedentes científicos que expliquen la presencia del fenómeno más allá del mercado televisivo, este estudio analiza la representación de los líderes y lideresas en las revistas femeninas de alta gama (RFAG) ‘Glamour’, ‘Telva’, ‘Woman’, ‘Elle’ y ‘Vogue’, a través de las entrevistas publicadas en el año 2011 con motivo de las elecciones a Cortes Generales en España. Desde una perspectiva comparativa y de género, el objetivo del análisis radica en evidenciar la proliferación de un particular formato: el de la “soft interview” o “entrevista blanda”, integrado por cuestionarios que alternan las preguntas personales con preguntas profesionales, con un mayor protagonismo de las primeras cuando el entrevistado es muje

New Frontiers for Political Communication in Times of Spectacularization

Political spectacularization is a broad global phenomenon challenging contemporary digital political communication under new features that define interactive digital narratives. In this sense, the use of politainment formulas in digital contexts to reconnect the electorate with political leaders and institutions through a more direct and interactive communication deserves further understanding of its implications on the devaluation of political information and the loss of democratic quality. This thematic issue sheds some light on how the spectacularization of political communication, which increasingly takes place in online contexts, affects and is affected by these processes, where entertainment is crucial to engage citizens. In this editorial, we provide a short overview of how research on politainment has started to shift its attention away from traditional media toward the wide array of lenses of politainment among digital platforms. The articles in this thematic issue reflect this shift but also show its consequences in terms of political engagement. Finally, we outline further research steps, which should establish a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of the complex relationship between political communication, entertainment, and new digital communication formulas, which is crucial to advance knowledge in the field

Political infotainment and emotional connectivity on YouTube

Producción CientíficaThis research work focuses on the study of political “infotainment”, a genre related to television (Schudson, 1999; Blumler, Kavanagh, 1999; Brants, 1998; Delli Carpini, Williams, 2001; Holtz-Bacha, Norris, 2001; Baum, 2002), but which in recent years has achieved a presence in other mass media, including the Internet. This work shows the presence of a large number of political videos, which meet the features of infotainment on the YouTube platform. Specifically, an analysis is presented of the most popular videos according to the number of times they have been viewed, when information on the following political representatives of European politics in 2011 is searched on YouTube: Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Gordon Brown (United Kingdom) or José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain), as well as the USA President Barack Obama (EEUU). The aim of this study is to determine wether the television infotainment phenomenon has been transferred to the Net on the international scene. For this purpose, 100 videos were studied from the perspective of Spanish researchers, which corresponded to the twenty most watched videos of each of the following political leaders or ex-leaders: Gordon Brown, Sarkozy, Berlusconi, Obama and Rodríguez Zapatero. The study carried out is a quantitative and descriptive analysis of the content. The analysis template has been designed using independent and dependent variables, with multiple choice or dichotomous answers. The data confirm that Political infotainment is a genre related to television which has been transferred to Internet. However, on Internet these videos emerge as a hybrid genre because they combine some of the videos produced and broadcast by television, and custom modifications of the people posting these videos on YouTube.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (CSO2012-34698

Una aproximación a la nueva retórica del líder político televisivo: acciones, cualidades y discurso

Producción CientíficaEste artículo realiza una aproximación a la figura del líder político actual, por tanto intenta dar respuesta a preguntas tales como: ¿a quién asignamos hoy el término de líder político? o ¿qué es el liderazgo político? El líder necesita el reconocimiento de un grupo o parte de la mayoría. En nuestras sociedades actuales, el liderazgo existe en función de la comunicación, de la visibilidad. Los candidatos que más presencia mediática tienen gozan de mayor probabilidad para convertirse en los más célebres. La recepción de la imagen y su interpretación por parte del público, se convierte en un mecanismo clave en la comunicación política. El marketing político establece las acciones, el discurso y las cualidades que debería presentar el candidato con el objeto de transformarlo en el líder perfecto, establecido en cada contexto por la opinión pública.This article analyses the current figure of the political leader and hence tries to come up with answers to such questions as: on which type of person nowadays do we pin the term of political leader? What is political leadership? Leaders need the recognition of a majority group or party. In today’s societies leadership depends on communication and visibility. Candidates with the highest media profile are the most likely to become famous. Reception and interpretation of the image by the public at large becomes a key mechanism in political communication. Political marketing establishes the actions, the discourse and qualities needed by candidates to transform them into the perfect leader as established in each particular context by public opinion

Broadcast formulas and television debates consumption in Spain in the 2019 parliamentary election

[Resumen] Los debates electorales televisivos son uno de los acontecimientos más relevantes en período electoral por su elevada audiencia y centrar la agenda mediática. Esta investigación examina la transmisión de este formato ante la multiplicación de pantallas, la difusión en redes sociales, la introducción de los servicios on demand y el consumo en movilidad junto con la aparición de nuevos actores televisivos. Este estudio de tipo cuantitativo analiza los debates emitidos en las elecciones legislativas de España, celebradas el 28 de abril de 2019, para conocer su expansión más allá del consumo tradicional televisivo y el engagement alcanzado. El método de trabajo combina la monitorización de distintas plataformas. Las conclusiones indican que la emisión de estos debates se produce a través de nuevas ventanas de distribución, originando un elevado índice de seguimiento en Twitter. Las estrategias de emisión de los grupos televisivos difieren.[Abstract] Television electoral debates are considered one of the most relevant events during the election period due to their high audience and also because of the power they generate to direct the media agendas. The present research examines the transmission of this format in front the proliferation of screens, diffusion on the social networks, introduction of on demand services, and on the go consumption together with the emergence of new television performers. This quantitative study analyses the debates issued during the parliamentary elections in Spain, which took place on the 28th of April 2019, in order to learn about their impact further than traditional television consumption and the engagement achieved. The methodology employed combined the monitoring of different platforms. The conclusions obtained support that the emission of this kind of debates takes place through new distribution channels, generating a high tracking rate on Twitter. The broadcasting strategies of the television chains differ.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; CSO2017-84472-

Media prosumers in political communication: Politainment on YouTube. Prosumidores mediáticos en la comunicación política: El «politainment» en YouTube.

This article analyzes the role of the political «infotainment» prosumer on Internet. In the second half of the XX century, telecracy was the predominant one-way communication model that not only popularized politics but also transformed politics into entertainment or «politainment». The XXI century began with the conviction that the Internet would lead to a bidirectional communication model in which true dialogue between political power and citizens would emerge. This research explores a new field of study: Web 2.0 «politainment» and prosumers’ attitudes and actions within this new communication sphere. The objective of the study is to identify the kind of political content Internet users consume and produce. To achieve this, we made a case study of the political information produced and consumed on YouTube, and in particular of a speech given by Ana Botella, the Mayor of Madrid, before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in September 2013. The 40 most-watched videos on YouTube during the week of the Mayor’s appearance as well as those viewed in the month that followed have been analyzed, in addition to the 3,000 comments on these videos. The conclusion shows that the prosumption of «politainment» on Internet is characterized by massive consumption of information but passive reaction with regard to production and participation

Comunicación Política en Internet: La tendencia al “infoentretenimiento” político en "YouTube"

This research focuses in the study of political infotainment. Originally, this is a genre linked to television, but now it is present in other media as Internet. This paper proves that many political videos of YouTube satisfy the characteristics of infotainment. Specifically, this paper shows the results of an analysis of the most played videos in YouTube in 2010 of of some representatives of European policy as Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Gordon Brown (United Kingdom) or José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain), as well as the USA President Barack Obama (EEUU). Esta investigación se centra en el estudio del “infoentretenimiento” político, un género vinculado a la televisión, pero que en los últimos años ha logrado tener presencia en el resto de los medios de comunicación, incluyendo la Red. Este trabajo evidencia la presencia en la plataforma YouTube de un gran número de vídeos políticos que cumplen con las características del “infoentretenimiento”. De manera concreta, se presenta un análisis de los vídeos que aparecían destacados como aquellos más populares, por el número de reproducciones realizadas, en la búsqueda de información en YouTube de los siguientes representantes de la política europea en 2010: Nicolás Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi, Gordon Brown o José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, así como del presidente estadounidense: Barack Obama

Politainment on Twitter: Engagement in the Spanish Legislative Elections of April 2019

The mediatisation of politics is based on the logic of spectacle. Politainment defines the phenomenon in which political information is trivialised by the hybrid narratives in which it is included and its anecdotal tone, with the aim of reaching an audience that seeks entertainment rather than information. This phenomenon has reached the digital sphere; the media, political parties, and prosumers are interested in using the new communicative context to expand their audience or become producers of new narrative formulas that act as a loudspeaker for online infotainment policies or discourses. This research examines the engagement obtained by politainment producers on Twitter, a network where debates about television content are concentrated. The article examines the tweets issued by Spanish television programmes that carry out politainment. The research focuses on the Spanish general elections held in April 2019 to establish whether this social network acted as a sounding board for television broadcasts and how it contributed to fixing ideas and content. The researchers conducted a content analysis on a sample of 7,059 tweets and 2,771 comments. The results show that the production, promotion, and communication strategies of programmes on Twitter are still scarce and unoriginal. The behaviour of prosumers is not very creative, active, or interactive, preventing the creation of a debate on Twitter or the construction of a horizontal (user–user) or vertical (user–programme) interaction on the content published

Las elecciones legislativas de 2004. Un análisis de las encuestas y de la gestión comunicativa en la campaña electoral: su proyección en la decisión de voto

Producción CientíficaEl 14 de marzo de 2004 se celebraron elecciones generales en España. Los resultados de estos comicios nos obligan a hablar de vuelco electoral, se pasó de la mayoría absoluta del Partido Popular a la victoria del Partido Socialista. Dichas elecciones estuvieron marcadas por distintos acontecimientos como el apoyo de España en la Guerra de Irak, el encuentro de Carod Rovira con miembros de ETA, y, en especial, el atentado terrorista islámico que tuvo lugar en Madrid el 11 de marzo, tres días antes de las elecciones. Las encuestas, que se realizaron en los años 2003 y 2004, sirven para conocer cómo influyeron estos hechos en la decisión de voto de los españoles. El trabajo, que se presenta en este artículo, analiza los principales sondeos de opinión, realizados antes y después de las elecciones, así como el comportamiento de las cadenas de televisión generalistas desde el 11 al 14-M, con el objeto de colaborar en encontrar una explicación a los resultados electorales y a la fluctuación electoral.On March the 14th 2004 general elections were held in Spain. Their results force us to talk about an electoral upset, the Popular Party’s absolute majority turned into a victory for the Socialist Party. These elections were influenced by several events such us the Spanish support of the Iraq War, Carod Rovira’s meeting with members of the terrorist group ETA, and especially, the Islamic terrorist attack which took place in Madrid on March the 11th, three days before the elections. The surveys that were done during 2003 and 2004 show how these facts influenced the Spaniards’ decision to vote. For this reason, these opinion polls have helped to explain in this dissertation the origin of the votes that leaded Jose´ Luis Rodrı´guez Zapatero to the Presidence of the Government

The use of YouTube in the Elections to the European Parliament 2014. The case of Spain

Producción CientíficaEsta investigación examina las agendas temáticas, las características de los mensajes y la participación de los ciudadanos a través del análisis de los vídeos más reproducidos en YouTube de los partidos políticos españoles con representación en el Parlamento Europeo y de su líder principal. El objetivo principal es detectar si los usuarios más interesados y activos en el proceso electoral están utilizando las potencialidades de la comunicación digital para ampliar su información sobre la campaña (Gibson & McCallister, 2011), o si, por el contrario, lo están empleando como una mera forma de distracción, dentro de la tendencia denominada como politainment (Nieland, 2008; Sayre & King, 2010; Schultz, 2012).This paper examines the thematic agendas, message characteristics, and citizen participation through the analysis of the most played Spanish political groups and their main leaders represented in the European Parliament videos on YouTube. The main goal of the research is to detect whether the most interested and active users in the electoral process are utilizing the potential of digital media to increase their campaign knowledge (Gibson & McCallister, 2011); or whether, on the other hand, they are using it as a mere form of distraction, known as “politainment” (Nieland, 2008; Sayre & King, 2010; Schultz, 2012).Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (CSO2012-34698