Call for Papers – Special Issue

Audiences and Catalysts of the Digital Political Message

Guest Editors
Eva Campos Domínguez (Complutense University of Madrid)
Guillermo López García (University of Valencia)

Presentation, Objectives and Thematic Areas

We are possibly witnessing the greatest communication crisis since World War II. In this context, information disorders act not only as panic-driven responses to multiple global crises, but also as strategic tools employed by illiberal regimes to consolidate power and delegitimize opposition. The communication ecosystem has been deeply transformed by the progressive disintermediation of information, the instrumentalization of new digital public spaces, and the redefinition of citizens’ roles. These citizens now face increasingly polarized messages, often orchestrated by state or para-state structures. Emerging political and media actors function as catalysts of messages that undermine the deliberative principles of democratic debate. This special issue welcomes studies that, from analytical and complex perspectives, examine the communication crisis in the political sphere, its structural causes, and its consequences for the public sphere and democratic quality.

The emergence and development of a digital public sphere has been a topic of intense academic debate over the past two decades (Schäfer, 2016; Papacharissi, 2002; Kreiss, 2019). Scholars have questioned whether, and to what extent, a substitute or equivalent of the apparently deficient "old" public sphere has emerged. Some studies have analyzed whether participation is accessible to all citizens and how they engage; others have focused on the structure of communication in terms of content, reciprocity, and style, and on the effects these debates have on participants and decision-making processes.

The new communication context is shaped by:
(a) the appropriation and control of new digital public spaces;
(b) information disintermediation which, far from empowering citizens, favors the circulation of targeted and polarizing discourse;
(c) a redefined perception of the public, no longer seen as deliberative agents but as segmented audiences prone to emotional mobilization;
(d) the emergence of new actors and catalysts—many linked to political power or aligned interests—who shape public communication under controlled narrative frameworks;
(e) and, as a result, a profoundly transformed communication landscape: more hybrid, opaque, and deeply disruptive.

This transformation is intensified by digital hypersocialization (Sinan, 2021), which reached a turning point during the COVID-19 pandemic, when society moved the last remnants of private space into the digital realm. In illiberal contexts, this shift has been instrumentalized by those in power to increase surveillance, centralize narratives, and push public debate toward areas of low plurality and high emotionality.

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and other new digital tools not only enables the expansion of public opinion into new digital arenas but also foreshadows a structural reconfiguration of the public sphere, increasingly oriented toward algorithmic management of participation and political thought. Rather than strengthening deliberative politics, these developments risk consolidating forms of public opinion shaped by power, limiting spaces for critical autonomy and weakening the democratic pillars of pluralistic debate (Susen, 2023).

All of this fosters a transformation of audiences. Once mere spectators of other social actors, they now experience significant changes in how they receive, interpret, and even produce information.

Possible thematic areas include:

  • Hybrid publics in the digital political ecosystem: multimedia and multichannel audiences

  • The digital public sphere in authoritarian contexts: between surveillance and participation

  • Constructing audiences in digital spaces

  • Young audiences and new political languages

  • Affective mobilization and the radicalization of discontent

  • Political disaffection and digital fandom

  • Mobilized publics and technopolitics

  • Audiences and media credibility

  • Audiences and democratic deliberation

  • Polarized publics around charismatic leaders

  • Artificial intelligence as a mediator of public opinion

  • Algorithmic segmentation and personalized audiences

  • The collapse of context in news consumption: disinformed but mobilized publics

  • Polarization and the identity construction of audiences

  • Mutations in the citizen's role in political communication

  • Antipolitics, depoliticization, and the emptying of the public sphere

  • Disruptive public spheres and information disorders

Submission Format

Original articles must be submitted via the journal’s platform. All articles must comply with the journal’s submission guidelines:
https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ESMP/about/submissions

Submission Deadline

The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2026.
The publication of this special issue is scheduled for April 2026.
Articles submitted after the deadline will not be considered under any circumstances.

Peer Review Process

All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review in accordance with the journal’s editorial policies, ensuring the quality and relevance of the contributions.

Contact

Eva Campos Domínguez (Complutense University of Madrid): emcamposdominguez@ucm.es
Guillermo López García (University of Valencia): guillermo.lopez@uv.es