Francisco Seoane Pérez holds a PhD in Communications Studies from the University of Leeds, an MA in Communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago (USA, 2006, with a grant from the Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza) and a BA in Journalism from the University of Santiago de Compostela (2001). His scholarly interests include the role of journalism in liberal democracies, the idea of a European public sphere, and the impact of the Internet on political participation. He is an associate editor for the International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics.