Dpto. Comunicación e Información Periodística

This paper focuses on media representation of the Catholic Church during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy and Spain. The purpose is to know when and how the Catholic Church starred in the news; how its actions were presented, and using which frames. The work analyses the coverage of the Church in Corriere della Sera and El Pa ıs between January and May 2020 and connects the deductive process (news frames by Semetko and Valkenburg) with the inductive process (setting common places or topoi) in order to get a better understanding of the news-framing. Findings show that both newspapers gave prevalence to news about the charitable work of the Catholic Church during the pandemic instead of about conflict with the political authorities because of restrictive measures. When it comes to the relationship with civil institutions, a positive image of the Church was offered, one that portrayed her as ready to collaborate and apply the preventive measures recommended by the health authorities. The positive perception is more frequent than the negative one when there are dualities in the topoi that are found in the interpretation of the facts.

En las últimas décadas se ha desarrollado un importante campo de investigación en el ámbito de las Ciencias Sociales y en el de las Humanidades en torno a la representación de la inmigración (y de sus actores principales) en los medios de comunicación. La cobertura mediática de las minorías, en este caso, de la inmigración, y de los temas relacionados con este debate social, supone un factor relevante de cómo la sociedad percibe a estas minorías. En el caso concreto de la inmigración, muchos estudios apuntan que el lenguaje empleado tiende a la generalización y que ello contribuye a la deshumanización de las personas inmigrantes, lo que afecta decisivamente a la manera en que las percibimos y nos relacionamos con ellas: el “otro” pierde su personalidad individual y pasa a denominarse “el sin papeles”, “el extranjero”. En el presente artículo se realiza un análisis de contenido del tratamiento mediático en España del traslado y desembarco de 629 personas migrantes rescatadas en el Mediterráneo por el barco Aquarius mediante el estudio de 1.303 piezas publicadas en una muestra de 27 diarios estatales y regionales entre el 12 y el 23 de junio de 2018. Los resultados muestran que el lenguaje utilizado fue propicio a la generalización y la deshumanización del acontecimiento, que tendía a concebirse y transmitirse como un hecho político y no como un acontecimiento vital para un conjunto muy significativo de personas. / In recent decades, an important field of research has been developed in the Social Sciences and Humanities around the representation of immigration (and its main actors) in the media. The media coverage of minorities, in this case, immigration, and issues related to this social debate is a relevant factor in how society perceives these minorities. Specifically in the case of immigration, many studies suggest that the language used tends to generalization and that this contributes to the dehumanization of the migrants persons, which decisively affects the way we perceive them and relate to them: the conceived as “other” loses his individual personality and becomes "The undocumented", "the foreigner". In the present article, acontent analysis of the media treatment in Spain of the transfer and disembarkation of 629 migrant people rescued in the Mediterranean by the Aquarius ship is made through the study of 1,303 pieces published in a sample of 27 state and regional newspapers between 12 and on June 23, 2018. The results show that the language used was conducive to the generalization and dehumanization of the event, which tended to be conceived and transmitted as a political event and not as a vital event for a very important group of people.

In recent years, there has been an increased emergence of studies focusing on the media coverage of the Paralympic Games. Until recently, studies have predominately used quantitative content analyses that, although providing useful interrogation of observational patterns, limits the understanding of and appreciation for the contexts that may have shaped the production of information. By focusing exclusively on the ‘what’ and on the ‘how much’ it is difficult to reveal the ‘why’ and to identify the underlying motives of any changes. This paper recognizes the nuances of the editorial decision-making process by using a mixed methods approach; employing quantitative and qualitative data drawn from a case study focusing on the Spanish media coverage of the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games. An initial content analysis of all news published in Spain’s twelve highest-circulation newspapers during Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games was undertaken. Subsequently, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with journalists that were also sent to these two iterations of the Paralympic Games by Spanish media. Drawing on conceptualisations of media framing, the results highlight that the numerical data alone shed insufficient light on the complexity of the news-making process. The semi-structured interviews brought to light issues such as editorial management buoyed by commercial imperatives, and organisational interjection in journalists’ narratives and authorship, that also contoured coverage and content. In addition to further debate about the complexities of media coverage of Paralympic sport, the study also underscores the utility of incorporating and combining qualitative methodologies within sport media and communication research.

The granting of hydrocarbon exploration permits in the Gulf of Valencia in 2010 brought thousands of citizens of the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands to the streets until 2015 when the beneficiary company renounced to carry out the project. As in other cases of citizen protests, different concerns and positions were expressed in the media. Knowing the media frameworks around these projects is the main objective of this research. Specifically, the research looks to identify the presentation of positions for or against the risks and potential benefits, and to determine the presence of social mobilization as an information source in the coverage of the three reference newspapers in the affected area: Levante-EMV (Valencia), Mediterráneo (Castellón) and Diario de Ibiza. From the theoretical perspective of framing, the frames used in reporting are revealed in terms of the definition of the problem. The results of the analysis of 1,258 texts have made it possible to identify frames of benefit and risk, much more frequent on the latter, focusing on the economic risk for tourism and fishing, and above all, on environmental risk. The frame of benefit referred to the economic advantages that would reduce the dependence on energy, occupies a discreet place since, in this case, the main actors in the conflict -politicians and civil society- coincided in their arguments, both becoming protagonists of media discourse in their role as sources.

Five nuclear power plants with seven reactors operate in Spain, one of the countries in the EU in which support for nuclear power is weaker. For understanding the public debate about nuclear energy is essential to know media discourse. The aims of this investigation are to find out how news is provided on nuclear power from an environmental point of view, who are the sources is the nuclear debate and to determine the editorial line with regard to the use of nuclear power in the seven national Spanish newspaper during five years (2008-2012). Applying the technique of content analysis for data collection, a qualitative analysis is carried out which identifies news frames a priori defined taking a deductive approach. The results show that the environmental perspective on nuclear power is relatively unusual. Using an ecoefficient frame, it is defined as a clean source of energy. Politicians play the greatest role and party political use is made of the nuclear power issue. Spanish nuclear coverage emphasizes the views of interest groups rather than those of scientists and other experts, ecologists or citizens. Thus, the press doesn´t play the substantive role in public deliberation and doesn´t connect with the different interests and sensitivities existing in the public sphere about nuclear energy.

The Paralympic Games are one of the world’s most important multisport events, maybe second only to the Olympic Games. However, research conducted to date shows that the media do not devote as much space to them as would accordingly be expected. This article proposes, through a case study, a new way of approaching this hypothetical discrimination by comparing the attention that the London Paralympic Games received from the Spanish print press with the attention that other sports received (football, basketball, tennis, cycling, motor sports and other minority sports) while those Games were being held. The main finding of our study is that, over the period analysed, the Spanish press devoted less space to the Paralympic Games than to any other sport.

La producción y el consumo de energía basado en la quema de combustibles fósiles representan dos tercios de las emisiones mundiales de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) por lo que las medidas orientadas a la descarbonización del sector energético resultan claves en la lucha contra el cambio climático. Ante esta realidad, podría suponerse que el cambio climático es uno de los temas principales en la prensa en relación al asunto energético. Sin embargo, tras el análisis de 1.958 piezas informativas relacionadas con la energía publicadas entre 2008 y 2012 en siete diarios nacionales españoles, solo 153 se referían al cambio climático, es decir, apenas un 8 por ciento del total (7,8%). La desvinculación del fenómeno del cambio climático con el sector causante de dos tercios de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero a nivel global no hace sino desmaterializar el problema y dificultar la acción de los ciudadanos, no sólo en cuanto al cambio de hábitos o comportamientos en relación al consumo, sino, sobre todo, en cuanto al incremento del nivel de exigencia a los representantes políticos. / Production and energy consumption mainly based on fossil fuels account for two thirds of global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Therefore, measures aimed at decarbonising the energy sector are key in the fight against climate change. Given this reality, it could be assumed that climate change is one of the main issues regarding the energy issue. However, after analysis of 1,962 news items related to energy published between 2008 and 2012 in seven Spanish national newspapers, only 153 were related to climate change, ie, only 8 percent of the total. Untying the phenomenon of climate change with the deceased sector two-thirds of emissions of greenhouse gases globally merely dematerialize the problem and hinder the action of citizens, not only in terms of changing habits or behaviors relation to consumption, but above all, in terms of increasing the level of demand political representatives.

¿Cómo informan los medios de comunicación españoles acerca del sector energético?, ¿cómo aparecen representados los principales actores: políticos, industria, científicos y, en especial, las organizaciones sociales? Responder a estas cuestiones es el objetivo de la primera fase del proyecto de investigación “Análisis del tratamiento informativo de las políticas energéticas en España, procesos de recepción y participación de organizaciones sociales" (Plan Nacional de I+D+i, referencia CSO2012‐38363). Aplicando la técnica del análisis de contenido para la recogida de datos, se propone un protocolo de codificación que permita establecer el índice de importancia de la información, la caracterización de la agenda temática (fuentes y categorías temáticas) y la definición de los encuadres en distintos niveles: funciones básicas de los news frames (Entman, 1993), generic frames (De Vreese, 2005) establecidos por Semetko y Valkenburg (2000), y los issue‐specific frames pertinentes en la cuestión energética en relación al medio ambiente, denominados encuadres ecoescéptico, ecoeficiente, ecosostenible y ecoradical. Por otro lado, se analizan los textos de opinión explícita en los diarios y los encuadres argumentativos de los líderes de opinión, grupos de interés y organizaciones sociales (think tanks, ONGs) para definir unas pautas en los mecanismos de construcción de encuadres noticiosos (agenda mediática) en función de la agenda política o acciones comunicativas de los actores protagonistas en el sector energético. En suma, esta investigación estudia el proceso de construcción de los encuadres (frame‐building), generado en la continua interacción entre periodistas, elites y movimientos sociales.

La fracturación hidráulica, conocida por el término en inglés fracking, es una técnica de extracción de gas y petróleo no convencional utilizada desde hace más de quince años en Estados Unidos. El uso de este procedimiento, que fractura roca a gran profundidad mediante la inyección de agua a presión, es controvertido. Algunos países lo han prohibido o han impuesto moratorias; otros lo fomentan u optan por la regulación. A principios de 2014, la Unión Europea dio luz verde a que cada país miembro pudiera "explorar o explotar" yacimientos de gas no convencional, según su criterio. En España, hay cientos de permisos solicitados o concedidos de una veintena de empresas interesadas y decenas de plataformas o asociaciones ciudadanas contrarias a esta técnica. Esta investigación analiza por un lado, la presencia del fracking en los diarios españoles El País, El Mundo, ABC, El Periódico, La Razón, La Vanguardia y Público durante 2012 (año en que aparece el debate en los medios) en términos de beneficio (a favor) o riesgo (en contra), a partir del análisis de las posiciones de las fuentes que aparecen en las noticias. Mediante el análisis de contenido, se establece el impacto de las plataformas antifracking en la agenda mediática centrándonos en su aparición en los medios como fuente informativa. Por otro lado, se estudia la estrategia informativa y páginas web de las principales plataformas (información sobre su composición, contenidos que ofrece, posibilidad de participación, acciones que promueve). Para el análisis de las ‘websites’ de las plataformas ciudadanas, la metodología empleada se basa en la cuantificación de las cuatro variables definidas por Dader y Ayuso (2008). Los resultados demuestran que las plataformas ciudadanas constituidas para luchar con el fracking han conseguido visibilidad y atención mediática, apareciendo en cerca de un tercio de las informaciones que informaban sobre el tema en 2012. Sin embargo, son los políticos las fuentes más frecuente lo que muestra que continúan siendo, también es este asunto, los actores principales en el discurso informativo.