Análisis de contenido del medio digital el Cardenal EC y diario El Correo en Facebook: caso segunda vuelta electoral 2025 entre Daniel Noboa y Luisa González

Abstract

This research analyzes the political content disseminated on Facebook by two digital media outlets from the city of Machala, El Oro province, Ecuador: El Cardenal EC and El Diario Correo, during the second round of the April 2025 presidential elections, in which Daniel Noboa and Luisa González competed. The general objective was to analyze the political content published by both outlets during this electoral process, while the specific objectives were to determine the content issued about each candidate and to identify the journalistic narratives employed. The methodology followed a mixed approach, combining qualitative and quantitative techniques through content analysis of posts published between April 1 and April 12, 2025, along with semi-structured interviews with experts in communication and local journalism. The study population comprised all publications from both outlets during that period, applying non-probabilistic criterion sampling to select only those posts that directly or indirectly mentioned the candidates. The analysis matrix was adapted from the thesis by Landacay Santos and Salinas Armijos (2023) on social media and politics in El Oro province, incorporating variables such as content type, journalistic narrative, message tone, and level of interaction. The results showed that El Cardenal EC acted as the dominant promotional vehicle for Daniel Noboa, with three-quarters of its content displaying a positive tone toward his candidacy, while approximately one-fifth of its publications took a negative stance toward Luisa González, mainly through flyers and sponsored videos. In contrast, El Diario Correo presented a more balanced volume of posts about both candidates; however, it maintained a critical bias toward Luisa González, using opinion pieces, caricatures, ideological comparisons, and mocking posts that questioned her candidacy, while publications about Daniel Noboa focused on his political management, security, and economic proposals. Overall, the tone revealed high positivity (82%) toward Noboa, favored by institutional and advertising coverage, while González accumulated two-thirds negative tone, mainly associated with allegations and criticism. The predominant journalistic narratives in El Cardenal EC were descriptive-informative and persuasive, whereas in El Diario Correo they were opinion-based, mocking, and ideological analysis, with few posts maintaining a strictly institutional tone. The semi-structured interviews reflected experts’ perceptions of the lack of balance and transparency in local digital media during electoral processes, as well as the need to strengthen journalistic ethics to ensure objective information for citizens and contribute to democracy. The study concludes that the digital coverage of both outlets demonstrated narrative and tonal imbalances, creating a communication ecosystem that favors the reproduction of polarized discourses and asymmetries in access to balanced information. This research contributes to understanding the role of local digital media in contemporary political communication, enabling reflection on their impact on public opinion and democracy in contexts of high electoral tension in Ecuador.