Crisis Management in Doñana
Public Communication and Social Perception
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62701/revsocial.v13.5475Keywords:
Doñana, Crisis communication, Social media, Political communicationAbstract
Doñana National Park, Europe’s largest ecological reserve, faces a deepening environmental crisis driven by climate change and illegal water extraction for irrigation. Between 2022 and 2023, a bill promoted by the Popular Party in Andalusia to revise the Irrigation Planning Plan sparked intense conflict with Spain’s central government (PSOE) and European institutions. This study analyzes the communication strategies adopted by the involved public institutions, public responses, and media framing. Through content analysis of official tweets, user comments, and related coverage by El País and El Mundo, the research reveals that the crisis was highly politicized. Institutional messaging focused on reputation management over addressing structural issues, using strategies of denial and adversary delegitimization. Media narratives emphasized political confrontation, pushing the environmental consequences into the background. The findings highlight how ecological crises can become tools of political discourse, with communicative priorities misaligned from the urgency of environmental action.
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