The pandemic has marked a milestone in the contemporary world at a global level. We are now in a post-pandemic stage, two years after COVID 19, where all facets of political, economic, and social life, as well as interactions within them, have been influenced and will continue to change in line with the new reality. Native pandemic factors like digital technology advancements, remote employment, and remote learning, which will become a crucial alternative factor, will continue to accelerate at a rapid rate. The World Health Organization (WHO) refers to coexistence and management for this new stage; the World Economic Forum (WEF) points out a restart that could lead to more equitable and sustainable growth; but there is still uncertainty. In the Global Risk Perceptions survey, experts and leaders were not hopeful about the world’s outlook; less than 16% of participants were “optimistic” or “positive,” but the vast majority (84.2%)”worried” or “concerned”. The health of the planet are still considered a critical short-term threat to the world. Economic risks, geopolitical and technological risks, are also of concern in the medium and long term. It is a new environment, of risk and resilience, in which we have to move forward.
In the field of communication, the study of this pandemic stage has also made it possible to draw lessons from the ability or not of the management of political communication, scientific medical, governmental, institutional, business and citizen communication.
A theme that unfortunately will remain will be that of misinformation, also considered a global risk. A recent study by the Poynter Institute shows that Sixty-two percent of respondents across generations think they see false or misleading information online weekly. And we know that, although there is a concern to minimize its practice through social networks at all levels, it will continue to express itself from the particular interests of a political, governmental, commercial or institutional nature. This generates an interest in media literacy. The same study specifies that there are two key factors in deciding whether online information is true or false: the source and the facts. In that context, Alex Mahadevan, director of MediaWise, points out some guidelines: “to teach anyone how to investigate the source of a post, photo or video, and evaluate the evidence cited.” But, above all, it is important to train and educate in media skills, in which technological skills and humanistic culture come together. In this way, we will be prepared to make intelligent use of the communicative possibilities offered by the disruptive and innovative technological environment that is increasingly digital, mobile and controlled by platforms.
The new actors of communication, the diversity of strategies to attract segmented audiences, the new forms of consumption, social networks as a tool for institutional communication and the instability in their use are relevant issues. Along these lines, the Reuters’s Report indicates this year a clear change in the habits of younger people, who consume news on new visual networks such as TikTok and Instagram. In addition, trust in news, in general, has decreased and interest in news has dropped considerably in all markets: it went from 63% in 2017 to 51% in 2022. Pew Research Center confirms that YouTube maintains its first place (95%), but only 32% of young people have a Facebook profile, while Tiktok (67%) has become one of the top online platforms for young people. Price Waterhouse Coopers states that reflecting the overall consumer shift to digital consumption, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Esports continue to grow. Mobile AR consumer revenue will see the fastest increase, at 39.1%, over the next five years as the technology is increasingly added to apps, both games and non-games. A scenario that requires further monitoring and study.
This issue of the Revista de Comunicación contains 15 articles and two reviews written by 42 authors from Universities of Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Peru and Venezuela.
In the field of advertising, strategies and brand management are of interest, from companies and attention to children to commercial content. In the article “Testimonials, endorsements and celebrities in advertising. An empirical analysis of advertising strategies at the Cannes Festival, 2010- 2020”, professors from the universities of Sevilla and Cádiz, study the way in which advertisers have
used these strategies for commercial or corporate purposes in the context of registered advertising in the festival. A very revealing fact is that the “ordinary person” is the type of testimonial that prevails in the Latin American advertising market in the last decade; this majority use correlates with current consumers and new forms of consumption. And in the article “Analysis of the ability of children in Spain to recognize commercial content published by influencers”, professors from the Universidad de Navarra and the Universidad International de La Rioja, identify the elements of the conceptual and attitudinal dimensions of advertising literacy de Roozendaal et al. (2011) that are present in the processing that children make of the content generated by influencers. It is important to know this consumption framework because content in a hybrid format represents a greater challenge for children because, as it is not seen as advertising, the chances of assuming a critical stance against persuasive attempts are lesser.
The impact of COVID 19 and the importance of communication management in this period, at a global level, remains relevant. The issue of disinformation continues to be important due to the relativity consequences it generates in the field of health which, also, has geographical peculiarities, because they face different problems. In the article “Typology of viral disinformation content during the first months of the health emergency due to Covid-19 in Peru”, a professor from Universidad Jaime Bausate y Meza adapts a typology that includes five disinformation contents: exaggeration, decontextualization , deception, false alerts and scams. The results reveal that the health crisis, the economic bonus for vulnerable families, the restrictions in the pandemic, and health myths were the main topics. Along the same lines, hospital communication has also taught us some valuable lessons. In the article “Impact of COVID-19 on communication in hospitals in Spain”, professors from the Universidad da Coruña confirm that the role of communication advisory has emerged at the request of health professionals, which means that progress has been made in the communicative culture of hospitals. In addition, the research shows that the increase in information demand by all interest groups has transformed the modus operandi in the three areas of institutional health communication (external, internal and user communication).
Journalism is concerned about the difficult environments in which professional practice is developed as well as the design in the publishing field. In the article “Journalism in contexts of violence: reflections on security conditions”, researchers from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and the Universidad Técnica de Machala examine the perception of Latin American journalists on the practice of the profesion in conflict contexts, the main problems and possible ways of solving the journalistic exercise in these scenarios, in Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The study concludes that journalists value the formation of networks, but doubt the alliances with other types of civil society actors. They also warn about the situation of female journalists and the need to renew the curricula of communication schools. In the article “Dynamic Editorial Visual Identity and cover design: the case of La Luna de Metrópoli (2018-2020)”, professors from the Pontificia Universidad de Salamanca examine the keys to Dynamic Visual Identity in the publishing field (IVED) and illustrate this strategy by giving special care to the covers of La Luna de Metrópoli (96 pieces designed between 2018 and 2020), through four variables: the changes in the masthead, the design, the contents and the use of rhetoric in the covers (such as visual texts). Among its conclusions, it reveals the important presence of rhetorical figures -and, especially, of metaphors- in the identity of a publication defined by the mutability of its header and the stylistic heterogeneity of its covers.
In the area of entertainment, reality shows and series continue to be the most viewed audiovisual entertainment content by audiences in a variety of countries. In the article “What is said about a reality show? Analysis of the Facebook forum of Big Brother Spain (2011-2019)”, researchers from the Rey Juan Carlos Universidad de Madrid, the International School of Business of the HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, study the evolution that has had the reality show Big Brother regarding the recurring themes and the positions of the fans, by incorporating the audience interaction on Facebook. The participants accept the format, but sometimes they question the impartiality of the TV network if they notice that it intervenes in reality to obtain a commercial advantage. Viewers admit to watching a game, but assume that what they are watching is also a manifestation of real life, and enjoy the perception of realism more than narrative coherence. In the article “Journalism as an essential protagonist in the
plot of the series The Crown”, professors from the Universidad de Valladolid focus on the representation of journalism in political life. Among the conclusions, the constant presence of journalism stands out from the beginning of each episode, with which headlines, flashes, radio broadcasts or television images set the rhythm of the narrative thread in each chapter and become the link between the royal family, politicians and society. The supremacy of the work of newspapers over radio and television and the predominance of sensationalist topics linked to the personal lives of members of royalty and transcendental political issues for the country are observed.
From the industry, researchers focus on Netflix, which is the leading OTT (Over the Top) company in the global video-on-demand market. Netflix, in 2021, chose to diversify content and ventured into the videogames and esports sector, with the original production of videogames and their distribution. In the article “What does Netflix play? The convergence of content in its multi-stage strategy”, academics from the universities Complutense de Madrid and Valladolid, explore the first months of this new service, trying to determine how this content has been incorporated into the platform, the type of entertainment that it offers, its location within the company’s content strategy, as well as its reception by its users and subscribers. The results show that the offer of games is aimed at offering light entertainment and reinforcing the value of the Netflix subscription, although they are beginning to target at games in a transmedia logic or that serve as reinforcement of other content on the platform. In the article “Discovering Netflix: brand identity and representations of diversity”, the professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid focuses on the strategic identification of Netflix with the notion of diversity, based on two complex and interrelated dimensions: diversity both outside (off-screen) and inside the screen (on-screen). The study critically reveals multiple complementary strategies, increasingly used globally to build a brand identity linked to diversity as a positive value, claimed in the 21st century.
In Political Communication, the authors focus on Twitter, the social network that has become the forum for communication between citizens, politicians and the media and, in some cases, the primary source of information. In the article “Polarization and hate speech with gender bias associated with politics: analysis of interactions on Twitter”, professors from the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, CEU San Pablo and the Universidad de Cádiz, based on the idea that the propagation of these discourses through social networks contributes to poisoning the public sphere and diminishing the quality of liberal democracies, they try to delimit the gender bias in hate speech in the political sphere. Through the analysis of the discourse operated with PLN techniques for the detection of emotions and text mining, it is confirmed that the messages received by political women concentrate greater emotional polarity than those of men, but not more hate, which is slightly higher in men. In the article “Twitter as an institutional communication tool: the British Royal House and the Spanish Royal House in the post-pandemic context”, professors from the Universidad de Sevilla study the treatment of the media in relation to the different members of both royal houses to learn about the use of this network as an institutional communication tool of the monarchy. The results show that Twitter makes it possible to take advantage of the agendas and activities of both institutions to generate a public projection that, in accordance with public expectations, fosters citizens’ trust in the institution while reinforcing its corporate identity.
Studies on research in communication are also on the scientific agenda. In the article “Curation of scientific content in social media of Ibero-American Communication journals”, professors from the Universidad del Zulia and the Universidad de Barcelona, examine the use of content curation in these publications, considered as an Academic Search Engine Optimization activity. Among the conclusions are the low presence in social networks of the journals studied, the high presence of curation in their publications on the contents of the last issue published, as well as various advertisements as major themes, and the support of Commenting and Summarizing as curation techniques.
The issue of women’s participation in Communication science is along the same lines, which has received little attention from the scientific community. In the article “The role of women in science and communication teaching: analysis based on university programs in Spain”, professors from the Universidad de Murcia inquire about the presence of female researchers in the basic references of the teaching guides for theoretical-scientific subjects of journalism degrees in Spain. Among the
main results regarding research citation patterns, the under-citation of scientific publications, the over-citation of researchers’ publications, and the non-existence of gender homophily (researchers do not tend to cite more people of the same gender), since the female authors are rarely cited and this low visibility is iqually observed in both male and female professors.
Media competence is aligned with the necessary literacy raised at the beginning. In the article “Media competence in Latin America: uses of YouTube and Instagram by university students in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia”, professors from the universities of Medellín, Austral, and Técnica Particular de Loja question the knowledge domain, skills and attitudes aimed at the production, management and analysis of media content with and from various environments that foster critical thinking, through the skills quantitative measurement of 1,730 undergraduate students from eight universities. The results show the prevalence of colloquial language and a limited content production, focused on entertainment and personal tastes. But it is observed that there is an increasing use related to informal type of learning, through the production of video tutorials, especially in the case of YouTube. Likewise, the need for greater digital and audiovisual literacy is identified, which allows young people to use these networks in a pedagogical way, and turn them into educational scenarios that promote greater participation, discussion and expression among the students.
We would like to thank the scientific community, with whom we work together in the management of the Revista de Comunicación . Their contributions as authors, reviewers and Consultative Committee has allowed us to achieve the first place in the Ranking of the Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) this year, among Scientific Journals of Communication in Latin America. Certainly a big challenge!
The Editor