Post-Truth Politics in Action? Representation of the Media in Spanish Radical Parties' Electoral Campaigns

Abstract

Recent research on the EU institutional response to post-truth politics has shown a gradual shift of focus from external threats to internal democratic challenges, including populist parties and elections. The case of Spain is particularly relevant as the country's "disinformation landscape" has been assessed as exhibiting "acute political and media polarisation" originating from weak media regulation and changes in political and media environments. Furthermore, the Spanish media landscape is characterised by high levels of media ownership concentration with a lack of transparency regarding media influence on governments and politicians. In this context, this article examines how Spanish left and right radical parties discursively constructed media elites for their political purposes and the (potential) evolution of their electoral campaign discourse in 2019 and 2024. We expect that the increasingly central role of the debate on digital regulation at the EU level and the context of post-truth politics more broadly serve as a new ground for radical parties with a populist discourse to de-legitimise mainstream media. The primary sources of the study include the left-wing (Unidas Podemos/Sumar) and the right-wing (Vox) party leader campaign speeches and manifestos in national and EU elections in 2019 and 2024. Our findings show that, when it comes to European elections, the Spanish populist discourse has an increasing trend towards the inclusion of more transnational discourses on media and media elites, especially regarding disinformation and post-truth, although with significant differences between the left and the right.