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Political Miscommunication and Electoral Campaigns in the Hybrid Media System:...
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Political Miscommunication and Electoral Campaigns in the Hybrid Media System: The 2020 US Election

A special issue of Journalism and Media (ISSN 2673-5172).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 16121

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jacob Groshek

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
A. Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Interests: emerging media; politics; health; mobility; technology; democratic change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ahmed Al-Rawi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Interests: disinformation; media; politics; health; satellite and broadcast technology
Dr. Raluca Cozma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
A. Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Interests: international, political, and science communication; foreign news; social media

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Without a doubt, two of the most important international events in 2020 were the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 US election. This Special Issue of Journalism and Media invites papers that explore the different political implications and dimensions of the US election, which may or may not incorporate the ongoing pandemic. Here, we especially encourage contributions that investigate all facets of the US election—not just the Presidential race but also Congressional, Gubernatorial, and State campaigns—from different political contexts and hybrid systems, especially cross-national comparisons and viewpoints from the Global South.  

Special topics of interests include but are not limited to the following:

  • The use of political bots, conspiracy theories, and deep fakes to spread disinformation about political opponents.
  • Social media use of state-run trolls and political parties or their affiliates.
  • Mobile apps use in the US election (i.e., Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, etc.).
  • The polarized politicization of media debates and credibility.
  • Computational analyses of social media users and content.
  • Audience surveys on perception of US candidates.

The topics above are not exhaustive, so we welcome other studies that are related to this Special Issue. We also welcome all research approaches, including qualitative, quantitative, computational, and mixed methods. If interested, please send inquiries and/or abstracts of approximately 500 words and a short biography of the author(s) to Dr. Jacob Groshek at jgroshek@gmail.com no later than May 31. If the abstract is accepted, we will invite submissions of full papers for peer review. Abstract acceptance does not guarantee that the full paper will be published in the Special Issue as all full papers will undergo a thorough double-blind peer review process. Full papers are due July 31 and can be submitted without an abstract in advance; these submissions will also receive full consideration.

All accepted papers will be open source and publicly available for free.

Dr. Jacob Groshek
Dr. Ahmed Al-Rawi
Dr. Raluca Cozma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journalism and Media is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access Special Issue will be waived. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • US elections
  • disinformation
  • social media
  • science and health communication
  • polarization
  • bots and artificial intelligence
  • emerging media
  • mobile apps

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 3240 KiB  
Article
Studying the Community of Trump Supporters on Twitter during the 2020 US Presidential Election via Hashtags #maga and #trump2020
by Huu Dat Tran
Journal. Media 2021, 2(4), 709-731; https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia2040042 - 18 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4320
Abstract
(1) The study investigated the social network surrounding the hashtags #maga (Make America Great Again, the campaign slogan popularized by Donald Trump during his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns) and #trump2020 on Twitter to better understand Donald Trump, his community of supporters, and [...] Read more.
(1) The study investigated the social network surrounding the hashtags #maga (Make America Great Again, the campaign slogan popularized by Donald Trump during his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns) and #trump2020 on Twitter to better understand Donald Trump, his community of supporters, and their political discourse and activities in the political context of the 2020 US presidential election. (2) Social network analysis of a sample of 220,336 tweets from 96,820 unique users, posted between 27 October and 2 November 2020 (i.e., one week before the general election day) was conducted. (3) The most active and influential users within the #maga and #trump2020 network, the likelihood of those users being spamming bots, and their tweets’ content were revealed. (4) The study then discussed the hierarchy of Donald Trump and the problematic nature of spamming bot detection, while also providing suggestions for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Miscommunication and Electoral Campaigns in the Hybrid Media System: The 2020 US Election)
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20 pages, 5490 KiB  
Article
Sources, Channels and Strategies of Disinformation in the 2020 US Election: Social Networks, Traditional Media and Political Candidates
by Samia Benaissa Pedriza
Journal. Media 2021, 2(4), 605-624; https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia2040036 - 16 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5110
Abstract
The dissemination of fake news during the conduct of an electoral campaign can significantly distort the process by which voters form their opinion on candidates and decide their vote. Cases of disinformation have been happening since the rise of social networks and the [...] Read more.
The dissemination of fake news during the conduct of an electoral campaign can significantly distort the process by which voters form their opinion on candidates and decide their vote. Cases of disinformation have been happening since the rise of social networks and the last presidential election held in 2020 in the United States was not an exception. The present research aims at analyzing the ways in which political disinformation is generated by different types of sources (social networks users, the media and political candidates) through various channels for communication (social and traditional media). Quantitative and qalitative methods were used to analyze a sample of news published during the election and verified by the most important fact-checking organizations in the United States and Europe. The results indicate that users of social networks spread false information on equal terms with presidential candidates, although the channel preferred to spread misleading messages was social networks in 67.4% of cases. The candidates relied on the use of classic disinformation strategies through traditional media, although the greatest degree of disinformation occurred when conspiratorial hoaxes were circulated through social networks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Miscommunication and Electoral Campaigns in the Hybrid Media System: The 2020 US Election)
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16 pages, 2169 KiB  
Article
Public Sphere and Misinformation in the U.S. Election: Trump’s Audience and Populism Indicators in the COVID-19 Context
by Concha Pérez-Curiel, Ricardo Domínguez-García and Gloria Jiménez-Marín
Journal. Media 2021, 2(3), 335-350; https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia2030020 - 24 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4833
Abstract
(1) In a context of an unprecedented global pandemic, an analysis of the effects of political disinformation on audiences is needed. The U.S. election process culminating in the official proclamation of Joe Biden as president has led to an increase in the public’s [...] Read more.
(1) In a context of an unprecedented global pandemic, an analysis of the effects of political disinformation on audiences is needed. The U.S. election process culminating in the official proclamation of Joe Biden as president has led to an increase in the public’s distrust of politics and its leaders, as public opinion polls show. In this context, the change in the electorate’s attitude towards Donald Trump, throughout the legislature and especially after the elections, stands out. So, the objective of this research was to determine, through the measurement of surveys, the views of the electorate on the behavior of the Republican candidate and the possible causes that determine the loss of confidence in his speeches and comments. (2) The methodology, a comparative quantitative-qualitative approach, analyzed the responses collected by Pew Research waves 78 and 80 (2020 and 2021). Specifically, the surveys analyzed were 11,818 U.S. adults in the case of the American Trends Panel 2020 and 5360 in the case of the same panel for 2021. (3) Results showed the change of position of the electorate, especially Republicans, in the face of the policy of delegitimization of the process and Trump’s populist messages on Twitter. (4) Conclusions pointed in two directions: society has decided not to trust Trump, while at the same time showing distrust about the correct management of the electoral ballot. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Miscommunication and Electoral Campaigns in the Hybrid Media System: The 2020 US Election)
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