Rafael Ventura

“Wealthy gay couples buying babies produced in India by poor womb-women”: Audience interpretations of transnational surrogacy in TV news

ABSTRACT Surrogacy is beginning to generate public debate, and the way the media approach it may have negative effects on social attitudes toward gay parenting. The news media play a key role in informing society, especially about topics such as surrogacy, of which most audiences have no direct experience. The aim of our research is to explore opinion formation of surrogacy and gay parenting by analyzing the audience interpretation of a TV news story in Spain. To do this we conducted four focus groups that were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis based on the discourse produced by the participants. The results show that the framing strategies used in the news story contribute to advocating an attitude of repudiation toward surrogacy, with an adverse sentiment also extending to homosexual couples who wish to become parents. This leads us to discuss the role of media in shaping public opinion and the resulting potential consequences in the case of surrogacy and gay parenting.

When the "other" runs in front of the bull: a membership categorization analysis of a television news story

Abstract This article analyzes a television news story using a particular example. In line with the research tradition of the ethnomethodological approach of membership categorization analysis, our main analytical concerns are (i) to understand the logic of practical reasoning and intelligibility involved in the production of the news story; (ii) to examine how this intelligibility is generated and what resources – such as commonsense knowledge of the social structures – are used to make the news story communicable; and (iii) to explore how specific forms of categorization employed in the news story are used to induce certain readings or to promote certain worldviews. The news story analyzed describes the progressive increase of foreign participants at the San Fermín running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It also highlights the still minority participation by women at this massive event. The results of the analysis show that both “foreigners” and “women” are presented as being in the wrong place. Through association with their typical predicates, both “foreigners” and “women” are construed in the news story as the “other.” A final reflection is made on the concept of identity, which is understood as a situated accomplishment.

Sexualidad, género, religión e interculturalidad en los relatos informativos civilizatorios y culturales de las televisiones españolas

Este articulo es producto del proyecto de Investigacion titulado “Analisis de los relatos audiovisuales sobre civilizaciones y culturas. Representaciones e interpretaciones de los relatos informativos de la television” referencia CSO2011-23786, financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion de Espana.