Communication Sciences BUAP students participate in internships for democracy and citizen participation

• The Communications and Policy Lab conducts the first media monitoring of candidates for state government

The Faculty of Communication Sciences, through its Communication and Politics Laboratory, carried out an academic exercise to monitor and analyze media during the political campaigns of the Puebla State Government, with more than 20 bachelor’s degree students also participating. As graduate students, as well as professors specialized in this field.

This work, which began on March 31 and ends on May 29, will allow students to know and apply the methodology adopted by the National Electoral Institute to monitor print, electronic and digital media, in addition to conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis that reflects the impact of these information channels on society.

In this regard, Director of the College of Communication Sciences, Angelica Mendieta Ramirez, stated that this exercise is being implemented for the first time and will work to enhance political culture, citizen participation, and monitor information published in political campaigns of candidates for state government.

When talking about this work, which was coordinated by the director, student Juan Carlos Rojas Cajamarca spoke about the surveillance they carried out on social networks, specifically on X (Twitter) and Tiktok; While his colleague Karen Elizabeth Ramirez Vasquez spoke about analyzing 442 hours of broadcast across five television stations and 485 hours of radio broadcast. For their part, Professors Uyuni Antonio Mendiola Ruiz, Victor Martinez Romano, and José Luis Estrada Rodríguez presented reports on the monitoring of six print media outlets, in addition to their monitoring of 20 poll centers in the state.

The director pointed out that the Communication and Politics Laboratory, which was established in 2016 thanks to the interest of students of this college, carries out activities not only to learn about electoral political preferences, but also to enhance political analysis and highlight the importance of citizens’ participation in elections and democratic construction, while following an academic, global and multidisciplinary approach. It relies on different methodologies, opinion polls, focus group work and participation in events such as the World Summit on Political Communication.

He noted that part of his work includes links with other organizations, hence his collaboration with the largest study group in this field, the Latin American Association of Researchers in Electoral Campaigns (ALICE). He said that, based on these links, they published articles reflecting the field work that had been done, both in digital media and in surveys.