Politics vs. entertainment

Politics Vs. Entertainment. Conversational Leadership of the Media in Social Networks

Abstract

For decades, traditional and digital-native media brands have competed with a diverse array of actors, challenging their journalistic leadership, authority, and public legitimacy. Simultaneously, the current media system, both hybrid and disruptive, offers these brands various opportunities to reclaim their centrality as reference media and provide safeguards against disinformation threats. This context is of particular interest for investigating the presence and conversational leadership of these reference media on X (Twitter), through an empirical approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods supported by Social Network Analysis (SNA). This article, therefore, examines the activity metrics, thematic agenda, engagement capacity, and follower dynamics exhibited over one year by twenty-two Spanish media outlets on the mentioned social network. The results provide the first scientific evidence of the extent to which these reference media brands capitalize on the digital public debate on current events. The conclusions distinguish the conversational weight or leadership of these media in the political agenda and topics related to entertainment at both the national and global levels. Thus, the article contributes to highlighting and understanding the strategies and leadership of major media brands on social networks regarding the main topics of public interest and their ability to mediate and influence hyperconnected sources and audiences.