Council press offices as sources of political information : between journalism for accountability and propaganda
Rodríguez Breijo, Vanessa (Universidad de La Laguna)
Simelio i Solà, Núria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Periodisme i de Ciències de la Comunicació)
Molina Rodríguez-Navas, Pedro (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Comunicació Audiovisual i Publicitat)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	This study uses a qualitative approach to examine what political and technical leaders of municipalities understand transparency and public information to mean, and what role they believe the different subjects involved (government, opposition, and the public) should have. The websites of 605 Spanish councils with more than 100,000 inhabitants were analysed and three focus groups were held with political and technical leaders from a selection of sample councils. The results show that the technical and political leaders of the councils do not have a clear awareness of their function of management accountability or of the need to apply journalistic criteria to the information they publish, defending with nuances the use of propaganda criteria to focus on the actions of the local government, its information, the lack of space dedicated to public debate and the opposition's actions. In relation to accountability and citizen participation, they have a negative view of citizens, who they describe as being disengaged. However, they emphasize that internally it is essential to continue improving in terms of the culture of transparency and the public information they provide citizens.
Note:	Grup d'investigació: Laboratori de Periodisme i Comunicació per a la Ciutadania Plural
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Public communication ; Internet ; Transparency ; Press offices ; Councils ; Participation
Published in:	Future internet, Vol. 13, Num. 2 (2021) , 34, ISSN 1999-5903

DOI: 10.3390/fi13020034

17 p, 296.2 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Laboratory of Journalism and Communication for the Plural Citizenship - Labcompublica
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Laboratori de Prospectiva i Recerca en Comunicació, Cultura i Cooperació (LAPREC)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles