Female Candidate Word. the Limited Gender Impact on the Electoral Discourse in Twitter *

114 Comunicación y Medios N°40 (2019) www. comunicacionymedios.uchile.cl Female candidate word. The limited gender impact on the electoral discourse in Twitter * Palabra de candidata. La limitada influencia del género en el discurso electoral en Twitter* Ainara Larrondo-Ureta Julen Orbegozo-Terradillos Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, España Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, España [email protected] [email protected] Simón Peña-Fernández Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, España [email protected] Abstract Resumen This research develops a descriptive analysis of Esta investigación desarrolla un análisis descripti- the topics promoted on Twitter by lehendakari can- vo de los temas promovidos en Twitter por las y los didates during the cybercampaign of the Basque candidatos a lehendakari durante la cibercampaña Autonomous elections of September 2016. To this de las elecciones autonómicas vascas de septiem- end, the study includes four categories of fram- bre de 2016. Con este fin, el estudio incluye cua- ing and three discursive strategies that have been tro categorías de encuadramiento y tres estrate- analyzed in 411 messages from the front-runners gias discursivas que se han aplicado al análisis de of the five formations that obtained parliamentary 411 mensajes de las y los cabezas de lista de las representation. The candidates have had an un- cinco formaciones que obtuvieron representación equal activity on Twitter, although in all cases the parlamentaria. La actividad de las y los candida- policy issues have been the most common frame. tos en Twitter ha sido dispar, aunque en todos los It has not been possible to establish a relationship casos los policy issues han sido el encuadre más between the sex of the candidates and the issues habitual. No ha podido establecerse una relación addressed. Likewise, the presence of the gender entre el sexo de las y los candidatos y las temáti- perspective has been merely testimonial in its cas abordadas. Asimismo, la presencia de la pers- messages. For all these reasons, the study points pectiva de género ha sido casi testimonial en sus out the contradiction between the institutionalized mensajes. Por todo ello, el estudio permite señalar approach of the political parties and that of their la contradicción entre el enfoque institucionalizado candidates. de los partidos políticos y el de sus candidatas y candidatos. Keywords: politics; gender; elections; Twitter; Palabras clave: política; género; elecciones; Twit- Basque Country. ter; País Vasco. * This paper is part of the project Audiencias activas y viralización y transformación de los mensajes periodísticos - CSO2015-64955-C4-4-R, sponsored by the Ministry of Economy and Competition’s R+D+I National Plan and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is also part of the scientific production of the Consolidated Research Group of the Gureiker Basque University System (IT-1112). Received: 04-24-2019 - Accepted: 11-07-2019 - Published: 12-31-2019 I 10.5354/0719-1529.2019.53046 Female candidate word. The limited gender impact on the electoral discourse in Twitter 115 1. Introduction During electoral campaigns, the political discourse jón, Sastre & Linares, 2012; Serra, Camilo & Gon- becomes of particular interest, largely due to the çalves, 2013; Pătrut & Pătruţ, 2014; Vergeer, 2015; public debate generated in regards to candidate Larrondo, Pérez & Meso, 2016). discourses. In these cases, their communication strategy faces special circumstances, given that In fact, although television continues to have a their audience is comprised simultaneously by citi- main role in communication with citizens during zens in general, by groups with a shared political election periods, political communication activities sympathy and by mass media. As a general crite- 2.0 have become a priority when mobilizing voters. rion of effective communication, the candidate and The web has been considered as the ideal medium his or her political party must be very conscious of to apply microtargeting strategies and establish a the identity and interests of this audience when of- more direct contact between political parties and fering content and weighing its effectiveness. Po- candidates with voters, without the mediation of litical leaders are being encouraged to function not journalists (Casero-Ripollés, 2015). During elec- only as senders with new tools, but rather also as tions, reaching less significant audiences, ideo- receivers of what their interest groups express. At logically-speaking, is also decisive and, therefore, their time, movements like 15-M in Spain showed communicative tools that the web provides are the power of social media to enforce an agenda and decisive –organizational websites and social me- to critically contribute to meaningful ideological dia (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, projects (Casero-Ripollés & Feenstra, 2012). etc.). Politicians use these tools to seem, para- doxically, less political (López, 2016). In fact, it has The exploitation of the expressive possibilities of been understood that instruments associated with the new technologies, with the internet leading the the web represent an opportunity to make right the way, without a doubt presents important changes deviations of the traditional offlinestrategies (Nor- in the relationships between political and mediatic ris, 2003; Gibson, Ward & Lusoli, 2007). elites and citizens (Dahlgren, 2005; Sey & Castells, 2006). This circumstance has affected studies on The public digital sphere ― as a territory of hu- cyber political communication, especially due to man intercommunication where deliberation takes the consolidation of social media (Heindricks & place and is capable of fueling public opinion ― Klaid, 2010) and, very particularly, in relation to tends to reproduce the configuration of the tradi- the type of interactions that these media generate. tional public space (Sampietro & Valera, 2015). This This increasing complexity has contributed to de- circumstance has become especially important in velopment of studies that address online political those studies on the role of the platform of micro- communication from different perspectives, caus- blogging Twitter in the processes of citizen mo- ing a great effervescence in the research in this bilization and, specifically, in election campaigns. field. Some recent and key analyses on the campaign 2.0 of the latest general elections in Spain (2016) (Abe- Early analyses developed within diverse socio- jón & Mayoral, 2017; Campos, 2017; Gómez, Roses political contexts confirmed the usefulness and & Paniagua, 2017; López, Marcos & Casero, 2017), possibilities of political campaigns on the internet agree in that political parties and leaders tend to relying on the organizational website developed by reproduce the very communicative and structural political party communication departments (Sch- logics of conventional communication, resulting in weitzer, 2005; Gibson, Lusoli & Ward, 2008; Dader, one-directional communication, programmed ar- 2003). Following the growth of social media, stud- guments, and a lack of effective interaction (López, ies proliferated showing the force of cyber-politics Cano & Argilés, 2016; Galán, 2017). in various geographic contexts and at certain times in the campaign, based on blogs and, above all, Although it is true that a positive vision predomi- platforms like Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006) nates on the use of social media applied to politics (Andersen & Medaglia, 2009; Lilleker & Jackson, (mainly for its ability to correct the very deviations 2012; Yannas, Kleftodimos & Lappas, 2011; Abe- of traditional offline political marketing and elec- 116 Comunicación y Medios N°40 (2019) A. Larrondo-Ureta / S. Peña-Fernández / J. Orbegozo-Terradillos toral strategies), its real effects on communica- masculine stereotype, especially during campaign tion, knowledge, and political participation seem to time (Schneider, 2014; Schneider & Bos, 2014). be more modest than thought before (Cammaerts, This is related to the political agenda of campaigns 2008; Sampedro, 2012). According to these studies, themselves and the ability of the candidates to at- the political class prioritized the web medium as a tract the female vote, especially in the digital en- way to amplify their statements, while what is said vironment (McGregor & Mourau, 2016), where this by citizens and potential voters on social media can issue remains unexplored. constitute a category of opinion that is relevant for politicians. In their work on the 2017 British elections, Annes- ley and Gains (2017) inquired into the presence of It is a change in the agenda-setting model. To the gender in the political agenda and by the interest traditional flow in a downward direction, from the of this agenda to attract women voters. According medium or politician to the citizen, and to the one to these authors, women tend to be more indeci- which exists reciprocally between leaders and jour- sive and critical when voting. Although all parties nalists, it is possible to add another in the opposite tend to include policies in favor of equality in their direction, from social media (public agenda) to the platforms, not all manage to include said positions political agenda (Moya & Herrera, 2015). Although in their campaign communication, which is nega- it seems proven that traditional actors of political tive from the perspective of political marketing and communication, including its leaders, are the most communication

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