Self-promotion in the electoral television debates Catalan Parliament Election, 2017

Abstract

The holding of Catalan Parliament election in December 2017, after the intervention of Generalitat (Government of Catalonia) and the suspension of autonomy by the Government of Spain under Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, has highlighted the need to deepen the regulation and the role of television operators, especially public ones, in electoral contexts and political confrontation. All this with Article 20 of the Spanish Constitution and the debate on the limits of the freedom of expression in the background, in the midst of a cross-match between the so-called constitutionalist and independence political parties, between appeals to the Central Electoral Board (JEC) and accusations about manipulation by different television channels. In this context, the role of electoral debates in television becomes especially important, as a tool for achieving a better-formed public opinion, increasing the quality of public debate-citizen- and by extension the improvement of participation and democratic quality. The research presented here analyzes, in particular, the advertising and actions of self-promotion issued by the television operators (TVE, La Sexta and TV3) that organized debates among the candidates of the main political parties that attended the mentioned elections, in order to know the frame of reference and informative treatment offered by this TV's about the same event in function of three variables: the public or private nature of the medium, the territorial scope of them and the editorial line.