Media In Spain Research Articles

En busca de la audiencia: materialización del rol cívico, de infoentretenimiento y de servicio en las noticias

Basado en un análisis de contenido de noticias de 12 medios de comunicación en España (n = 6 088), el trabajo analiza la presencia de los roles periodísticos que abordan las audiencias: de servicio, infoentretenimiento y cívico. Los resultados han puesto de manifiesto que el rol de infoentretenimiento es el más presente, y que es muy similar la presencia de los roles de servicio y cívico. Se ha concluido que los medios periodísticos conceptualizan a sus audiencias como espectadores. Respecto a los factores que explican la mayor presencia de cada rol, la temática noticiosa es el más relevante.

Trolling and insulting others on social media in Spain: the role of social media news use, culture of impunity, and social media envy

ABSTRACT Prior research has delved into the diverse effects that social media news consumption has over broader social media interaction patterns. From social ties curation, to ties filtering, blocking, and other behaviors, social media news consumption has been empirically deemed to influence the way citizens socialize in these virtual spaces. Drawing on a diverse and nationally representative two wave-panel data from Spain, this study builds on this strand of the literature by investigating the role of social media news, social media culture of impunity and social media envy or feelings of jealousy, and resentment toward others, over trolling and insulting people in social media. Results show that social media news has a direct association with malicious trolling but does not fuel abusive verbal interactions. The latter is mainly explained by individuals who embrace a culture of impunity – the expectation that in social media one may commit a crime or violation and not be held accountable–, and social media envy. Furthermore, there is a positive divergent interaction between social media envy and culture of impunity on insulting other citizens. That is, people who report higher levels of social media envy and culture of impunity tend to engage in insulting others the most in social media.

Analysis of the Notoriety of General Press and Radio Media in Spain

Digitalisation has transformed the dynamics of interaction between the media and its audience, requiring rapid transmission of information and adaptation to the diversity of approaches in the current media space (Casero-Ripollés, 2010; Peña Fernández et al., 2019). This research seeks to determine the notoriety of the main Spanish national generalist press and radio media. It also aims to evaluate the differences in recognition according to the socio[1]demographic characteristics of the subjects. The study is of an inferential-correlational type and employs a quantitative approach methodology, with a questionnaire as a data collection tool and a sample of 385 participants randomly distributed throughout Spain. Statistical procedures such as correlation matrices and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied to study the relationships between variables. The results reveal that El País leads in notoriety among newspapers, while SER stands out among general radio stations. The select groups are completed by El Mundo and ABC; and the COPE, respectively. Level of education, nationality, age and socio-economic status are the variables that show statistically significant inter-group differences in terms of cumulative recognition indexes. However, in the case of radio, relevant variations are also observed in terms of ideological issues, potentially marked by a circumstantial component. It is worth noting that in none of the scenarios measured does gender act as a differentiating variable. The conclusions reveal a notoriety of the media relatively in line with their audience ratings, although there are other conditioning elements, such as the trajectory of the medium

The Conceptual approach to experiential tourism: presence, use and scope of a new tourism model

The main objective of this paper is to present an analysis of the presence, use, and scope of the concept of so-called experiential tourism in local, regional, and national press and online media in Spain. Factiva® was the search tool used to do this through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis complemented by a case study of a sample of companies that illustrate this growing tourism model.
 Of the total number of news items published (1.262 in 89 reference newspapers) concerning the subject under analysis, the results show a gradual increase since 2007, with 2021 being the year with the highest number of news items, a total of 247, coinciding with an increase in demand for this type of activity, following the health situation caused by COVID-19. The year 2022 also shows a high presence of news. All this supports the growth of tourism practices more closely related to a sustainable viewpoint and the demand for more genuine and meaningful tourism practices.

Aging and the media in Spain: Reinforcement of ageism in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has made older adults one of the main foci of media. This article explores age-related language through a comparative analysis of headlines in the five highest-circulation Spanish newspapers during the first and second waves of the 2020 pandemic and the 2 years before the pandemic. The results show a decrease in the frequency of headlines that represent older people as subjects of an action associated to positive affection, as well as an increase in representation of older adults as a homogenous group in a negative way, and an increase in ageist terms, especially “elders.” We discuss to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic can reinforce ageism and the possible repercussions.

La credibilidad de los informativos de la televisión pública en España

The audiences of generalist television's newscasts reflect that the viewers’ interests and loyalties are constantly changing. Research shows that several elements influence the success of programs and formats, but in this paper, we draw attention to the factors that determine the credibility of newscasts. We also want to know how pluralism is safeguarded in newscasts, as we consider that credibility and pluralism are two intertwined values that influence one another. As credibility is a subjective value, it is required to find new information criteria that is suitable and of the utmost rigor. The main aim is to delve into whether there is a consensus on the basic parameters for the definition, identification, and assessment of credibility of nationwide public service media in Spain. Moreover, we are also interested in whether audience figures can be used to determine the degree of trust of newscasts. The analysis brings forward the observations of researchers, scholars and media professionals that offer a vision on the different approaches that integrate the multiple aspects affecting news consumption and interpretation. We conclude that credibility is a concept composed of multidimensional components, resulting from a process where different filters condition fact perception. That is why a story can have different meanings, related to the different point of views of citizens. Las audiencias de los informativos de las televisiones generalistas reflejan que el interés y la fidelidad de los espectadores cambian constantemente. Numerosas investigaciones demuestran que existen elementos que intervienen en el éxito de programas y formatos, pero aquí analizamos qué factores determinan la credibilidad de los informativos. Y también queremos conocer cómo se garantiza el pluralismo en los telediarios, porque la credibilidad y el pluralismo son valores que están relacionados entre sí y se condicionan mutuamente. Como la credibilidad es un valor subjetivo, es necesario buscar criterios informativos que permitan analizarla con rigor. El objetivo principal es averiguar si existe un consenso sobre los parámetros que sirven para definir, identificar y valorar la credibilidad en la televisión pública estatal en España. Además, interesa saber si los índices de audiencia sirven para determinar el grado de confianza en los informativos. Aquí aportamos las observaciones de investigadores, expertos académicos y profesionales, que ofrecen una visión de las diferentes perspectivas que integran los múltiples aspectos que condicionan la lectura y la interpretación de las noticias. Una conclusión transversal que se extrae de esta investigación es que la credibilidad es un concepto con componentes multidimensionales, fruto de un proceso en el que intervienen varios filtros que condicionan la percepción de los hechos. Por eso un relato puede tener múltiples significados, que se corresponden con los diferentes puntos de vista de los ciudadanos.

Consumers’ Paying Intent for Public Service Media in Spain: The Effect of RTVE Service Quality, Citizens’ Expenditure, and the Moderating Role of Age

ABSTRACT Due to significant transformations in citizens’ news consumption habits and the arrival of on-demand multi-platform services, today’s public service media (PSM) face substantial challenges to endure their core public principles. Moreover, PSMs’ need and legitimacy are being questioned from both a liberal and a populist standpoint, opening up discussions about its sustainability. However, little academic attention has been paid to citizens’ paying intent in the context of PSM. To mend this gap in the literature, this study examines expenditure on news and entertainment services and Spain’s public television (RTVE) service quality as two potential direct predictors of paying intent for public service media, as well as the moderating role of citizens’ age. Findings indicate that higher expenditure on news and entertainment services is associated with lower paying intent for public service media, while higher perceptions of RTVE service quality positively influence paying intent. Finally, challenging prior literature, our findings revealed that the younger generations are the most likely to economically support PSM at all levels of RTVE service quality. This study emphasizes the need for PSMs to reinforce their quality offer and uniqueness and theorizes about different ways to achieve this goal in today’s multi-platform environment.

Identity orientations of Latino print media in Spain: the reinforcement of Latino popular culture

The evolution of Latino print media in Spain has coincided with the demographic increase of Latin American immigrants in the country since the early 1990s. Starting with one publication in 1992, the market started to grow in 2003 and reached its peak in 2007 with the edition of more than 100 titles. The advertising crisis of 2008 ended this trend, and the number of publications began a continuous and permanent decline in the following years despite a demographic recovery of Latin Americans in Spain after 2016. This research presents a quantitative analysis of the contents of 1,500 news items from 14 Latino newspapers and magazines that survived the 2008 advertising downfall. Six of these 14 media outlets continue publishing in 2023. The objective of this study is to show the connections between the contents of the analyzed Latino print media and the cultural identities of their readers. The results show that the prevalent themes related to culture, society and politics represent the identities of their Latino readers. Latino publications give visibility to Latinos as the protagonists of their contents. In addition, the origin of the protagonists shows the wide range of Latin American countries in correlation with the diverse Latin American origins of the readers. We discuss the implications of these findings within the volatile context of Latino print media in Spain, the growing Latin American demographics, and the formation of diverse Latino identities.

Cuba in travel journalism in Spain: Discourses about an exceptional destination (2010–19)

This article examines how Cuba was represented as a travel destination in four mainstream media in Spain between 2010 and 2019. The study combined a thematic analysis with a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to focus on their supplements and travel sections. The results revealed that Cuban representations were far from the common discourse attached to ‘sun and beach’ tourism for Caribbean travel destinations. Instead of this, aspects related to society, citizenship and daily life of Cuban people were the most common. Cultural and natural heritage were also salient topics. The CDA revealed about a discourse with some persistence of stereotypes and dominant metaphorical areas that framed Cuba as a ‘paradisiacal’ destination and emphasize the ‘hot’ nature of the island. The study illustrates that the actors in these narratives – tourists and Cuban people – had a variety of roles and agencies. The research contributes to the existing research on Cuban representations and media discourse with evidence about the weight of social issues, culture, heritage, but also remaining postcolonial views to the island, grounded on discourses of otherness and exoticism.

Impact of fake news on social networks during COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

PurposeThe pandemic has enhanced the global phenomenon of disinformation. This paper aims to study the false news concerning COVID-19, spread through social media in Spain, by using the LatamChequea database for a duration from 01/22/2020, when the first false information has been detected, up to 03/09/2021.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative analysis has been conducted with regard to the correlation between fake news stories and the pandemic state, the motive to share them, their dissemination in other countries and the effectiveness of fact checking. This study is complemented by a qualitative method: a focus group conducted with representatives of different groups within the society.FindingsFake news has been primarily disseminated through several social networks at the same time, with two peaks taking place in over a half of the said false stories. The first took place from March to April of 2020 during complete lockdown, and we were informed of prevention measures, the country’s situation and the origin of the virus, whereas the second was related to news revolving around the coming vaccines, which occurred between October and November. The audience tends to neither cross-check the information received nor report fake news to competent authorities, and fact-checking methods fail to stop their spread. Further awareness and digital literacy campaigns are thus required in addition to more involvement from governments and technological platforms.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the research is the fact that it was only possible to conduct a focus group of five individuals who do not belong to generation Z due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, although a clear contribution to the analysis of the impact of fake news on social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain can be seen from the privileged experiences in each of the fields of work that were identified. In this sense, the results of the study are not generalizable to a larger population. On the other hand, and with a view to future research, it would be advisable to carry out a more specific study of how fake news affects generation Z.Originality/valueThis research is original in nature, and the findings of this study are valuable for business practitioners and scholars, brand marketers, social media platform owners, opinion leaders and policymakers.

Revenue diversification strategies of online news organisations: subscriptions and memberships

The funding model crisis for newspapers is a matter of public concern; and it is not only a business issue, but also a social and political one, as news organisations are considered to have an irreplaceable function in democratic systems. Technological and social changes have transformed the business model of news organisations so that, in a digital scenario with a strong competition for consumers’ attention, they have had to diversify their portfolio of income streams. In such a context, this study analyses the state of the diversification of revenue streams in the Spanish digital media market, using the available data from the total universe of digital media in the country. The article focusses on the two most common revenue streams related to user payment -subscriptions and memberships- and analyses the importance of four variables in this diversification of revenue strategies: their nature (digital native versus traditional), thematic scope (general versus specialised), territorial scope (local versus national), and the type of organisation that promotes it (traditional, new, or independent groups). The data obtained suggest that there are no universal formulae in the implementation of payment models for Spanish digital media. Specifically, there are significant differences in the revenue models between native and non-native digital media. Thus, payment strategies are more prevalent among non-native digital media than among native media. Furthermore, the non-native media that have opted for paid models tend to diversify their sources of income more than the non-native ones based on free model. Additionally, data show that paywalls and memberships are more usual among specialised non-native digital media and generalist native outlets. Also, payments are more often required by local and regional media than national outlets. From the ownership point of view, although the main Spanish media corporations are developing their revenue models, the pay-per-content model is also quite extended among organisations, associations, and foundations not linked with the traditional publishing groups. This study, due to its exhaustiveness, dimensions, and novelty, identifies in detail the current state of the implementation of the pay model for digital media in Spain, which can help and facilitate media managers in their decision-making.

Contributions of Social Media to the Recognition, Assessment, Conservation, and Communication of Spanish Post-Industrial Landscapes

The paper aims to draft how phenomena such as abandonment, territorial disarticulation, environmental pollution, socioeconomic imbalances, and heritage consideration issues that surround landscapes where industrial activity has ceased are reflected on social media in Spain. The research focuses on the most popular social media platforms in Spain: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. A manual sample strategy was conducted to ensure an individualized approach to user-generated content. Sampling was carried out separately for three aspects: (1) keywords at a general level, (2) terms used to define industrial landscapes, and (3) recognition of significant industrial landscapes related to governmental facilities built in the 20th century, wherein we take into account three potential profile types: (i) individuals; (ii) NGOs/associations and/or public administrations; and (iii) academics. The results show that social media platforms are widely used as tools to disseminate information about industrial landscapes, but the contributions of each platform are uneven and incomplete in relation to the reality of post-industrial landscapes. However, it is worth recognizing the added value that their possible interaction brings as a reference for current civic debates. How social media contributes toward mitigating the difficulties of recognition, comprehension, and protection of post-industrial landscapes is emphasized in our conclusions.

Regional public subsidies for the media in Spain: amounts, beneficiaries and impact on income statements

This article analyses public subsidies for the media awarded by Spain’s autonomous communities in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. The aim is to establish the amounts and the number of beneficiaries, as well as what such subsidies represent as a proportion of the main beneficiaries’ operating incomes. To that end, 38 calls for applications for subsidies issued by nine autonomous communities were analysed, as were their respective decisions. The total amounts, the itemised subsidies received by each media outlet, and the three main beneficiaries per call have been identified. For the main beneficiaries, the subsidies as a proportion of their operating incomes have been calculated. It is concluded that the press sector received the largest volume of subsidies but is not very financially dependent on them. However, many examples of private radio and television outlets whose activities are maintained by public funding were observed. In the audiovisual sector, it was found that public subsidies represented more than 20% of some beneficiary’s total declared income, and even up to 50% in some cases.

From the Capital to the Neighborhood: The Hyperlocal Media Model in the Spanish Context

ABSTRACT This research updates the study of media of proximity in Spain, addressing the in-depth study of hyperlocal digital media. The main objectives are to determine the motivations for their growth, the models they establish and the factors that condition their stability in the post-pandemic context. After mapping hyperlocal media in 2018 (n = 62), a survey was conducted among their directors to discover the motivations for their creation, the characteristics of their professional teams and business models, the conditions of news production and their relationship with the audience. The map was updated in December 2021 and a new questionnaire was provided to directors to discover its adaptation to the post-pandemic context. The results show that hyperlocal media in Spain have established their own organizational, productive and economic model. The commitment of the directors to providing the community with the information they need from their own neighborhoods is evident, as well as the human and economic resource limitations they must face. The pandemic has strengthened the relationship with the audience, the news service mission, and the search for new financing models.

Radio Marca: historia empresarial del primer proyecto de radio especializada en temática deportiva en España

The emergence of Radio Marca in the Spanish radio landscape, at the beginning of the 21st century, was an event. It was the first radio station in the country to specialize in sports. The company history of this outlet is linked to the initiatives of the Recoletos group.Radio Marca started out in a context in which communications media in Spain were adapting to the new reality brought about by digital technology. It was conceived for digital radio transmission (or DAB, by its Spanish acronym). However, this system was hardly used in Spain, so the project was steered towards an FM system.This article presents the results of thirteen in-depth interviews with the leaders, professionals, and managers who kicked off the project. It also uses bibliographic sources, including the document with which the Recoletos group applied for the DAB broadcast license.  Our study concludes that Recoletos sports director Manuel Saucedo was key to the horizontal growth of the group. Radio Marca was a gamble from Recoletos, which sought to expand its influence in the sports news market. For that, a pioneering project was begun in Spain, with the aim of creating a radio station specialized in sports news. 

Journalists’ Self-Perception of Their Profession in Spain: Analysis of Social and Technological Challenges

The influence of social and technological factors —from the shadow of disinformation to automation and emerging forms of journalism— redefines the role of journalism and its practices. Journalistic metamorphosis has not been traumatic, but it has been complex, leading to tensions, reflections and controversies. The challenges facing journalism during the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 are assessed with a focus on Spain. The research consists of a survey of 197 Spanish journalists and nine interviews with prestigious academics and internationally recognized professionals. Changes within journalism are addressed in five major themes: the role of journalism today; the relationship between journalism and politics; the incidence of bots and artificial intelligence; mobile journalism and social media; and emerging forms of journalism. The results show that the role of journalism remains unchanged, but the pandemic has strengthened some of its functions. The influence of politics in journalism is very prominent, as well as the concern about automation and misinformation. To face the future, high specialization is needed due to the fast technological evolution and the emergence of new techniques. * This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Government of Spain) and the ERDF structural fund within the research project “Digital native media in Spain: Storytelling formats and mobile strategy” (RTI2018-093346-B-C33).

Measuring the Candidates' Emotions in Political Debates Based on Facial Expression Recognition Techniques.

This article presents the analysis of the main Spanish political candidates for the elections to be held on April 2019. The analysis focuses on the Facial Expression Analysis (FEA), a technique widely used in neuromarketing research. It allows to identify the micro-expressions that are very brief, involuntary. They are signals of hidden emotions that cannot be controlled voluntarily. The video with the final interventions of every candidate has been post-processed using the classification algorithms given by the iMotions's AFFDEX platform. We have then analyzed these data. Firstly, we have identified and compare the basic emotions showed by each politician. Second, we have associated the basic emotions with specific moments of the candidate's speech, identifying the topics they address and relating them directly to the expressed emotion. Third, we have analyzed whether the differences shown by each candidate in every emotion are statistically significant. In this sense, we have applied the non-parametric chi-squared goodness-of-fit test. We have also considered the ANOVA analysis in order to test whether, on average, there are differences between the candidates. Finally, we have checked if there is consistency between the results provided by different surveys from the main media in Spain regarding the evaluation of the debate and those obtained in our empirical analysis. A predominance of negative emotions has been observed. Some inconsistencies were found between the emotion expressed in the facial expression and the verbal content of the message. Also, evidences got from statistical analysis confirm that the differences observed between the various candidates with respect to the basic emotions, on average, are statistically significant. In this sense, this article provides a methodological contribution to the analysis of the public figures' communication, which could help politicians to improve the effectiveness of their messages identifying and evaluating the intensity of the expressed emotions.

Young Women, Social Media and Antigypsyism in Spain: An Experience of an Online Workshop with Roma Girls and Women

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are currently sites where right-wing (political) groups in Spain find easy ways to spread organised and random hate speech towards minority groups, among which the Roma community. However, members of these groups, especially the younger generations, are rapidly learning how to protect themselves from racist and sexist online attacks, raise their voices and make their realities more visible, creating counter-narratives against hate speech and making the internet a safer space for themselves. This article presents the results of an action-research experience with young Roma women in Spain. Fifteen participants between 15 and 30 years old gathered for six online sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic, exchanging ideas and designing strategies to counter Antigypsyism online. The internet was not only the focus of the workshop, but also the main tool to carry it out. The project was informed by intersectional feminist thought, its main aim being to enable Romani women to deal with sexism and racism as a double axis of discrimination and online harrassment in Spain. In this article we will explain the methodology that was used and the topics, themes and insights that came up during the sessions, followed by some reflections on the process of designing and developing the workshop based on the theoretical discussions about Antigypsyim and social media in Spain.

Promoting Sustainable Lifestyle Habits: "Real Food" and Social Media in Spain.

Obesity and state of being overweight are beginning to be treated as global epidemics. In this context, health professionals are increasingly acting as expert opinion leaders that use social media to connect with the public, in order to promote healthy lifestyles and provide specific recommendations for different product categories, including fresh, processed, and ultra-processed meat products. This study investigates how exposure to content created by health professionals, and posted on social media, influences consumers’ attitudes. For this purpose, the collaboration of one relevant nutritionist influencer in Spain has been obtained. The online survey created has provided 4.584 responses, received from followers (from May to June 2019). After applying a partial least squares path modeling approach, the results suggest that trust in the content shared, the perceived credibility of the professional sharing the information and the informative value, determine the strength with which consumers acquire more knowledge about endorsed products, develop a favorable predisposition towards them, prefer them over their options, and modify their behaviour by purchasing them, instead of their usual foods. The link is stronger, in the case of trust and influencer’s credibility, than for informative value. However, the latter has an indirect effect on the attitude phases through the former.

The ideology of media. Measuring the political leaning of Spanish news media through Twitter users’ interactions

The news media have a strong influence on people’s perception of reality. But despite claims to objectivity, media organizations are, in general, politically biased (Patterson & Donsbach, 1996; Gaebler, 2017). The link between news media outlets and political organizations has been a critical question in political science and communication studies. To assess the closeness between the news media and particular political organizations, scholars have used different methods such as content analysis, undertaking surveys or adopting a political economy view. With the advent of social networks, new sources of data are now available to measure the relationship between media organizations and parties. Assuming that users coherently retweet political and news information (Wong, Tan, Sen & Chiang, 2016), and drawing on the retweet overlap network (RON) method (Guerrero-Solé, 2017), this research uses people’s perceived ideology of Spanish political parties (CIS, 2020) to propose a measure of the ideology of news media in Spain. Results show that scores align with the result of previous research on the ideology of the news media (Ceia, 2020). We also find that media outlets are, in general, politically polarized with two groups or clusters of news media being close to the left-wing parties UP and PSOE, and the other to the right-wing and far-right parties Cs, PP, and Vox. This research also underlines the media’s ideological stability over time.