Political parallelism in the digital sphere: Referrals to media outlets by political party actors in Austria

Abstract

This study explores political parallelism within the digital sphere by analyzing news-sharing behavior of political party actors on Twitter in Austria. Employing the concept of political parallelism, I investigate whether these alignments persist in the context of social network sites. Using Twitter data collected during the 2019 European Parliament and Austrian national election campaigns, alongside survey data from the Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES), the study assesses which media outlets are referred to by political actors and how ideological proximity influences these referrals. The findings indicate that political actors are more likely to amplify news from outlets whose readership aligns ideologically with their party, confirming the extension of traditional political parallelism into digital media environments. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, the results show that right-wing, nationalist parties do not necessarily use media referrals more selectively than mainstream parties. Finally, the findings suggest that political party actors use media referrals as opportune witnesses, to selectively amplify information that aligns with the party’s political stance. These insights underscore the impact of political parallelism on political information environments and have implications for audience engagement in the digital sphere.