Spanish (Neo-)Party Press: The Case of the Digital Native Newspaper <i>La Última Hora</i> and Podemos

This paper argues that the traditional party press model is currently making a comeback, due to social polarisation, digital technologies and the online-only press, whose partisan and ideological nature provides a favourable context for media outlets acting at the service of a specific political party. In Spain, the consolidation of the online-only press has coincided with the breakdown of the two-party system, leading to the appearance of La & Uacute;ltima Hora Noticias (LUH), a digital native newspaper that defines itself as independent, but whose discourse is identifiable with the position of political party Podemos, in what can be regarded as a sort of "neo-party press". This paper aims to shed light on this trend by analysing LUH in terms of the characteristics of the traditional party press, the topics that it covers, the frequency with which it mentions Podemos and its leaders and how it represents them, and the different parties that it defends or criticises. The results reveal that LUH uses party-press techniques, clearly identifies with Podemos' political interests, and resorts to formulas that are closer to propaganda than to political journalism.