simply inadequate. The idea that a high frequency defines a strong relevance is linked to an oversimplified, pre-semiotic communication model: [...] in order to deal with the information contained in the text, the recipient must combine the input information with the one stored in his/her memory”.

After comparing the data from the CIS studies and the programmes analysed, as well as the respective dates of both, Wolf’s affirmations may be qualified in one way or another and obtain more information on the relationship between the media agenda and the public agenda. Nevertheless, it should be recalled, and with Rubio Ferreres (2009: 14) that “the theory of agenda setting does not properly study the effects of the media in the short term, but the effects in long-term consequences. In other words, according to the theory of agenda setting the effects do not lead directly to the explicit and immediate determination of mass behaviour, but rather to influence the way in which the public organizes its own image of the world. The effects of agenda setting are therefore cognitive effects, since they influence in the knowledge systems the audience assumes and structures in a stable manner. Therefore, it is not about one-off effects, but cumulative and temporarily deposited ones”. Therefore, more than drawing conclusions on the impact of one agenda over another, we can observe where both the media and the public originate from, in the same time frame. This is how Andreu Abela (2008) among others, understood it, analysing the incidence of the headlines over 7 years in El País and El Mundo from the answers given in the CIS about the major issues.

Regarding the participation of women, the most current studies which contain a variable thereof (Consell de l`Audiovisual de Catalunya, 2019) are taken as the reference. In its report on pluralism during the electoral campaign in the general elections (12th to 24th April, 2019), the CAC verified in La 1, 86.7% of male intervention time on information about the election campaign and 13.3% of female intervention time (2019: 101), data virtually identical to that of Telecinco -86.9% versus 13.1% (2019: 117) -, Antena 3- 86.2% - of intervention time for men and 13.8% for women (2019: 133) and La Sexta - 86.3% for men and 13.7% for women (2019: 152) -. In response to the information related to the elections, the intervention time of the candidates was 32.7% in La 1, 31.3% in Telecinco, 21.4% in Antenna 3 and 24.6% in La Sexta, noting differences between the channels, but all being a far cry from equality.

2. Method

Two representative programmes of the political talk show genre in current Spanish television were chosen. The two share the same time slot (usually from 11:20 to 14.15, except on special days, when they start earlier) and register viewers well above the average for their respective channels: La Sexta for Al Rojo Vivo and Cuatro for Las Mañanas de Cuatro. In fact, it was usual to see Las Mañanas de Cuatro as the programme with the highest ratings in its channel3, whereas Al Rojo Vivo has been in this position regularly and even beat its record audiences in the period studied. This includes 25 programmes