Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T11:54:20.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Newspaper attention and policy activities in Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2013

Laura Chaqués Bonafont  and
Frank R. Baumgartner
Laura Chaqués Bonafont*
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona and Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), Spain
Frank R. Baumgartner*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
*
Laura Chaqués Bonafont Professor of Political Science Universitat de Barcelona Departament de Dret Constitucional i Ciència Política Avinguda Diagonal, 690 08002 Barcelona Spain Email: laurachaques@ub.edu
Frank R. Baumgartner Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 313 Hamilton Hall Campus Box 3265 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3265 USA Email: frankb@unc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Spain's newspapers are characterised by strong partisan identities. We demonstrate that the two leading newspapers nonetheless show powerful similarities in the topics of their coverage over time. The media system is strongly related to the policy process and it shows similar levels of skew (attention focuses on just a few topics) and friction (attention lurches rapidly from topic to topic) as others have shown for policy processes more generally. Further, media attention is significantly related to parliamentary activities. Oral questions in parliament track closely with media attention over time. Our assessment is based on a comprehensive database of all front-page stories (over 95,000 stories) in El País and El Mundo, Spain's largest daily newspapers, and all 7,446 oral questions from 1996 to 2009. The paper shows that explanations of friction and skew in governmental activities should incorporate media dynamics as well. Political leaders are clearly sensitive to media salience.

Keywords

Agenda-settingmedia and politicsnewspaperspunctuated equilibriumSpain
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , April 2013 , pp. 65 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arsenault, A. A.Castells, M. (2008) The Structure and Dynamics of Global Multi-Media Business Networks. International Journal of Communication 2: 707–748.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, F., Jones, B.Wilkerson, J. (2011) The Dynamics of Policy Change in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Political Studies 44(8): 947–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, W. L. (1990) Toward a Theory of Press-State Relations in the United States. Journal of Communication 40(2): 103–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, W. L. (2004) Global Media and Politics: Transnational Communication Regimes and Civic Cultures. Annual Review of Political Science 7: 125–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berges, L. (2010) Poder Politico, Económico y Comunicativo en la Sociedad Neoliberal. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social 65: 244–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boydstun, A. (forthcoming). Patterns in the News: How Policy Issues Make the Front Page. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Budge, I.Keman, H. (1990) Parties and Democracy. New York: Oxford.Google Scholar
Bustamante, E. (2000) Spain's Interventionist and Authoritarian Communication Policy: Telefònica as Political Battering Ram of the Spanish Right. Media Culture and Society 22: 433–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bustamante, E. (ed.) (2002) Comunicación y Cultura en la Era Digital: Industrias, Mercados y Diversidad en España. Barcelona: Gedisa.Google Scholar
Castells, M. (2009) Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Mateo, R., Bergés, L., Garnatxe, A. (2010) Crisis, ¿qué Crisis? Los Medios de Comunicación: Empresas y Periodismo en Tiempos de Crisis, en Francisco Campos (coord.) El Cambio Mediático. Sevilla/Zamora: Comunicación Social, pp. 75–106.Google Scholar
Entman, R. M. (2004) Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gandy, O. H. Jr. (1982) Beyond Agenda Setting: Information Subsidies and Public Policy. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishers.Google Scholar
Graber, D. (2003) The Power of Communication. Managing Information in Public Organizations. Washington: CQ Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green-Pedersen, C.Stubager, R. (2010) The Political Conditionality of Mass Media Influence: When Do Parties Follow Mass Media Attention? British Journal of Political Science 40: 633–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunther, R. M., Montero, J. R.Wert, J. I. (1999) The Media and Politics in Spain: from Dictatorship to Democracy. Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials WP 176.Google Scholar
Hallin, D. C.Mancini, P. (2004) Comparing Media Systems. Three Models of Media and Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, J. T. (2004) All the News That's Fit to Sell: How the Market Transforms Information into News. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Iyengar, S. (1991) Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, S.McGrady, J. A. (2007) Media Politics: A Citizen's Guide. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Jones, B. D.Baumgartner, F. R. (2005) The Politics of Attention. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, E. D. (2007) Grupos Mediáticos y Culturales en España. Zer 22: 183–214.Google Scholar
Llorens, C. (2010) Spain's Media Concentration Policy: A Patchwork Crucial to the Understanding of the Spanish Media System. International Journal of Communication 4: 844–864.Google Scholar
McChesney, R. (2003) Theses on Media Deregulation. Media, Culture and Society 25: 125–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palau, A., Davesa, F. (2013) La Cobertura Mediática de los Escándalos de Corrupción en España y su Impacto en la Opinión Pública (1996–2009). Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Petrocik, J. R. (1996) Issue Ownership in Presidential Elections, with a 1980 Case Study. American Journal of Political Science 40(August): 825–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reig, R. (2011) Los Dueños del Periodismo. Barcelona: Gedisa.Google Scholar
Sigal, L. V. (1973) Reporters and Officials: The Organization and Politics of Newsmaking. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.Google Scholar
Vliegenthart, R.Walgrave, S. (2011) Content Matters. The Dynamics of Parliamentary Questioning in Belgium and Denmark. Comparative Political Studies 44(8): 1031–1059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walgrave, S.van Aelst, P. (2006) The Contingency of the Mass Media's Political Agenda Setting Power: Towards A Preliminary Theory. Journal of Communication 56: 88–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar