Ruth Rodríguez-Martínez

How Dominant are Official Sources in Shaping Political News Coverage in Spain? The Perceptions of Journalists and Citizens

The aim of this article is to analyse the opinions of journalists and citizens regarding the interdependence of public media and the official sources of political power in Spain. Little research of this kind has been done in the Spanish context. Journalists and citizens representing four Spanish regions—Catalonia, Madrid, the Basque Country, and Andalusia—were questioned about their opinions regarding this interdependency. The methodology used in this research is based on quantitative techniques (surveys) and qualitative techniques (in-depth interviews and focus groups). The results prove that the opinions of journalists differ from those of citizens for the majority of questions asked. Citizens are more inclined to follow directions from official sources than are journalists. The geographical background of the respondents proved to be a significant factor in terms of variation in answers. Journalists from Catalonia and the Basque country are much more reluctant to follow government directives on issues of counter terrorism or in cases of national emergency.

Invisible, Stereotyped and Filtered by Adults: The Image of Young People in the Catalan News Media

The study on which this article is based aims to quantify the presence and image of young people in leading Catalan news media. Analysis shows that youngsters have a very low visibility factor in the Catalan media, except in the case of sports news. The presence of young people is significantly greater when dealing with themes such as violence, disasters and education. As regards the roles that young people play in news stories, results show an adult-centric vision. Young people figure greatly when dealing with issues such as violence but when structural problems such as education, work and emancipation are addressed, an external and institutional vision is adopted.

Franquismo, monarquía y democracia. La posición política de los principales diarios (ABC, La Vanguardia Española, Informaciones y YA) durante la transición española a la democracia (1975-1977)

The political role of the Spanish press after the death of Franco (1975) varies according to the company profile and political tradition of the different newspapers. In this paper we analyze the role played by the most important newspapers in terms of readership, influence and age in the process of the transition to democracy. The newspapers studied are La Vanguardia —independent, founded in Barcelona in 1881, ABC —monarchic, founded in Madrid in 1905—, YA —catholic, founded in Madrid in 1935 and Informaciones —independent, founded in Madrid in 1922. The conclusions of the paper allow us to establish the political behaviour of the main Spanish newspapers with its unconditional support of the Crown, different attitudes in relation to the first two post-Franco governments and defined positions towards emerging political parties and the Constitution.