Electoral debates and conflict. An analysis with support vector machines (SVM) of the media coverage of debates in Spain since 2008

The effects of electoral debates on audiences have been extensively studied in the academia, having been concluded that they can be relevant, both in the cognitive and behavioural realm. However, various investigations suggest that media coverage can be a strong moderator of the possible effects on electoral behaviour. The present investigation shows the effect of the number of candidates present in the electoral debate in Spain in the subsequent media coverage. Using innovative machine learning techniques, the presence of conflict in media coverage has been identified to show that, when there are more than two candidates, media tend to focus on other elements, relegating the most conflictive moments to a secondary place.