Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly | 2021
Book Review: Beyond Post-Communication: Challenging Disinformation, Deception, and Manipulation, by Jim Macnamara
Abstract
Spanish regions. The Catalans claimed total control over local resources instead of distributing them to the national territory through the Inter-territorial Compensation Fund. The economic crisis of 2012 contributed to increase the tension between Madrid and Catalonia, which in 2010 saw its power diminishing because of a reduction of the modern statute. The national news media described the independence demonstration as being manipulated by some political parties and considered the independence as a disadvantageous choice for Catalonia. Catalan media, instead, focused on the linguistic and cultural identity and described the independence movement as the natural expression of the Catalan population. Regarding the request for a fiscal sovereignty, the national newspapers and TV channels depicted Catalonia as being irresponsible toward Spain and considered the secession claim as a way of blackmailing the rest of the country. Catalan media described how Spain was oppressing Catalonia and exploiting its economic resources. The last event studied is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist attack on August 17, 2017, which involved the cities of Barcelona and Cambrils. The ISIS attack occurred in a period when Catalonia had already planned to hold a referendum for its independence, and the national news media tried to reduce the tension between Madrid and Barcelona by highlighting the necessity for Spain to remain united against the terrorism. Catalan news media focused more on praising the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police that killed the five terrorists, and in many articles, the victims were distinguished into Catalan and Spanish nationality. Miro’s book represents solid research on an interesting topic. It sheds light on the conflict between Madrid and Catalonia, helping us to understand the influence that the news media have in representing different social and cultural contexts, modeling their respective identities.