Estudios históricos de la prensa: fuente primaria, objeto de investigación y actor político

Abstract

Historical studies of the press have become a field of research that is concerned with different social processes in the past. Research problems range from the construction of print culture to the formation of public opinion, as well as in different sub-disciplines such as political history, historical sociology, and political communication. This article presents and discusses the possibilities offered by the press as a source of research, an object of study and as a political actor in historical and social research based on the relations between the press and political power. It starts from a methodology of historiographic review, and it is concluded that the press continues to be a very relevant source in historical and social research, but that it requires formulas for contrasting primary information that allow it to overcome its own limits.