THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CATALYST FOR INCREASED CONSUMPTION IN TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE IN ROMANIA

Antonio Momoc — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT:
The general perception is that the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant shifts in social media usage patterns, resulting in increased Internet traffic for communication purposes. This study analyses the use of social media and television by the Romanian population before (in 2018), during (in 2020), and after (in 2023) the COVID-19 lockdown. The results indicate that during and after the lockdown, the most frequently used social networking sites and mobile apps in Romania were Facebook and WhatsApp. TikTok experienced a significant increase in user registrations, surpassing Instagram. Despite the presumption that TV lost market share compared to the Internet, television not only remained the most utilised medium, but TV consumption increased during and after the pandemic. The data was collected by the media agency Dentsu Romania, combining information obtained from BRAT (Biroul Român de Audit Transmedia) and Dentsu Romania, based on a collection methodology involving online and face-to-face interviews, on a representative sample of the Romanian population. BRAT and Dentsu Romania media consumption data was cross-referenced with information on consumption behaviour monitored through people meters by ARMA (Asociația Română pentru Măsurarea Audiențelor).

KEY WORDS:
Internet, media consumption, news, social media usage, television

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/communicationtoday.2024.Vol.15.No.1.1

Populism 2.0, Digital Democracy and the New ‘Enemies of the People’

Antonio Momoc — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:40:26 +0000

ABSTRACT:
Like in many other Central and Eastern European countries, in 2016, Romanian populist parties were voted by the ‘silent’ citizens, by those feeling deprived and not represented properly. Shortly before that, in 2015, the tragic Colectiv nightclub fire had given birth to a new party: Save Romania Union (USR) that promotes a populist discourse on the ‘corrupt elite’ versus the ‘pure people’. At the beginning, however, the new party did not disseminate messages specific to then ationalist or radical right-wing populists. Another party, endorsed by a news television channel Romania TV, almost succeeded at overpassing the electoral threshold in the 2016 parliamentary election: United Romania Party (PRU) used xenophobic and anti-EU messages during the 2016 general election campaign. My hypothesis is that the extremist electoral messages, the expressions of hatred towards foreigners and Western businessmen or the EU institutions were spread through social networks. Using a content analysis, I shall verify the extent to which the official Facebook pages of the Social Democratic Party (PSD, the direct successor of the Romanian Communist Party), the United Romania Party (PRU) and the Save Romania Union (USR) reflected the antagonism of the ‘pure’ people versus the ‘corrupt’ elite and I shall reveal who these parties identified as the so-called ‘people’s enemies’.

KEY WORDS:
democratic theory, digital democracy, etymological democracy, new media, online political communication, people’s enemies, political marketing, populism 2.0, populist discourse

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Antonio Momoc – Communication Today

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CATALYST FOR INCREASED CONSUMPTION IN TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE IN ROMANIA

Populism 2.0, Digital Democracy and the New ‘Enemies of the People’