The expansion of digital environments and the transformation of the ways in which information is produced, circulated, and consumed have profoundly altered the dynamics of political communication in Colombia and around the world. Social media, digital platforms, and the emergence of new communicative actors have expanded the possibilities for engagement in public debate, but they have also created new arenas of competition for attention, credibility, and the construction of meaning around political and social events. In this context, information and disinformation have become central dimensions of the struggles for power and the shaping of public opinion.
The most recent presidential elections have highlighted these transformations. The growing involvement of influencers, content creators, and other non-traditional actors in election campaigns has pushed the boundaries of conventional political communication and raised new questions about strategies for persuasion, mobilization, and voter segmentation. At the same time, digital platforms have facilitated the rapid circulation of narratives, misleading content, polarizing discourse, and forms of political communication that challenge traditional mechanisms of journalistic mediation and institutional capacities for regulation and verification.
These transformations are not limited to electoral processes. National, departmental, and municipal governments are increasingly turning to social media and digital platforms to communicate their decisions, build legitimacy, manage crises, and establish direct relationships with citizens. Government communication strategies have thus become a key component of public action and of disputes over the interpretation of policies, government performance, and social conflicts. At the same time, traditional media are facing changes in their models for producing and distributing content, while alternative, community-based, independent, and digital media are developing new ways of reporting on events and challenging dominant narratives.
This scenario raises questions about the relationships between the media, political power, citizens, and democracy. It also compels us to reconsider the role of journalists, communicators, digital platforms, influencers, public institutions, social organizations, and audiences in the production and circulation of information. Technological transformations do not occur in a political vacuum: they are embedded in preexisting power relations and, at the same time, can contribute to reproducing, challenging, or reconfiguring them.
For this reason, Controversia Journal invites the academic community, social organizations, and researchers to submit articles that, from theoretical, empirical, critical, or analytical perspectives, examine the contemporary dynamics of information, the media, and political communication in Colombia and around the world. Contributions that do the following will be especially valued:
· Analyze the role of social media, digital platforms, influencers, and content creators in elections and other processes of political participation.
· Study the dynamics of the production, circulation, and reception of information and disinformation, as well as their effects on public opinion, democratic deliberation, and political action.
· Analyze the communication strategies of national, departmental, and municipal governments, and their relationship to the construction of legitimacy, governance, and public opinion.
· Examine the transformations of traditional media and their relationships with political actors, audiences, and digital platforms.
· Study the role of alternative, community-based, independent, and digital media in shaping public agendas and in the contest over narratives regarding the national reality.
· Analyze the political communication strategies of parties, movements, candidates, and other political actors, in both electoral and non-electoral contexts.
· Examine the relationships between political communication, polarization, information manipulation, and new forms of citizen participation and mobilization.
· Analyze changes in audiences and new forms of consumption, appropriation, and circulation of political information.
· Compare the Colombian case with experiences from other countries and regions to identify similarities, differences, tensions, or relevant lessons learned.
This call for papers seeks to bring together works from various disciplines and research traditions that help us understand contemporary transformations in communication.
Call for Papers Opens: September 1, 2026
Closing Date: November 27, 2026
Issue publication: first semester of 2026
Editor
John Jairo Montoya. Center for Research and Popular Education – Program for Peace, Colombia
Submission of contributions
Contributions must comply with all the requirements outlined in the author guidelines, according to the type of text.
Manuscripts may be submitted via the Open Journal System (OJS) platform. To do so, if this is your first submission, you must register at the following link: Register | REVISTA CONTROVERSIA. If you are already registered, you can log in at: Log In | Revista Controversia. If you require technical assistance, please contact controversia@cinep.org.co or revistacontroversia@gmail.com.