Social media has instituted new parameters for the political conversation in the digital public sphere. Previous research had identified several of these new phenomena: political polarisation, hate speech discourses, and fake news, among others. However, little attention has been paid to the users’ geographical location, specifically to the role location plays in political discussion on social media, and to its further implications in the digital public sphere. A priori, we might think that on the digital landscape geographical restrictions no longer condition political debate, allowing increasingly diverse users to participate in, and influence, the discussion. To analyse this, machine learning techniques were used to study Twitter’s political conversation about the negotiation process for the formation of the government in Spain that took place between 2015 and 2016. A big data sample of 127,3 million tweets associated with three Spanish cities (Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia) was used. The results show that the geographical location of the users directly affects the political conversation on Twitter, despite the dissolution of the physical restrictions that the online environment favours. Demographics, cultural factors, and proximity to the centres of political power are factors conditioning the structure of digital political debate. These findings are a novel contribution to the design of more effective political campaigns and strategies, and provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the digital public sphere provided by Twitter.

COVID-19 has driven several global offline communities to go online. Restrictions to the free movement of people in response to the coronavirus pandemic triggered a profound rethinking of jobs, products and services, and among them, the activities of religious communities, which are well consolidated in the offline sphere. In Spain, since the lockdown established by the government in March 2020, the Catholic Church has reinvented its activity, as all the churches and other places of worship have been closed. This constituted a considerable challenge, considering the history and dynamics of the institution. This paper aims to analyze how Catholicism, as one of the most consolidated offline communities, reworked its communication, going online in a matter of days. With this objective, researchers surveyed each and every one of the 70 Spanish dioceses, taking them as representatives of the global Catholic community in the country. Their responses are complemented with an in-depth interview with the Director of Communications at the Spanish Conference of Bishops. The results highlight the huge and unprecedented step towards the digitalization of the community through consistent, creative and efficient action. New methods, platforms and languages have been implemented, even broadening community membership. Despite an offline essence that is still detected in some decisions, this pandemic has brought a new communicative paradigm to the Spanish Catholic community. Digitalization has been consolidated whilst preserving the best aspects of direct contact and action.

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Resumen Descubrir el éxito de la combinación entre tradición e innovación. Este es el propósito del presente artículo, dedicado a analizar las claves del periodismo narrativo en el entorno digital a partir de los modelos de las revistas Jot Down y Gatopardo. Ante la inmediatez de la digitalización, los medios dedicados al periodismo narrativo rompen con las normas del espacio online y apuestan por el periodismo slow, basado en las técnicas tradicionales de los padres de este periodismo, como Tom Wolfe. Se estudian sus contenidos, técnicas, formatos y se examina cómo un periodismo centrado en la esencia del papel está disfrutando de una consolidada presencia y audiencia en el mundo digital. Al mismo tiempo, la propuesta es conocer la situación y reconocimiento de los periodistas en este tipo de medios; sus rutinas, procesos y condiciones laborales. Para ello se emplea una metodología basada en entrevistas en profundidad, análisis de contenido, observación no participante y revisión de la literatura. Las principales conclusiones muestran que, ante la situación actual del periodismo y de los medios de comunicación, priorizar la calidad a la inmediatez e hibridar la tradición con la innovación puede ser clave como garantía de futuro.