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Spain has a highly partisan media system, with newspapers reaching self-selected partisan audiences and espousing explicitly partisan editorial preferences. Do the newspapers of the left and right differ in how they cover politics in ways that can be predicted by their partisan leanings? We review theories of issue ownership, journalistic standards, and information scarcity and test hypotheses derived from each. We find that the parties converge substantially in virtually every aspect of their coverage. Few differences emerge when we look at what topics are covered or in the dynamics of which topics gain attention over time. However, we confirm important differences across the papers when they make explicit reference to individual political parties. Journalistic norms result in a surprising focus on the faults of one’s enemies, however, rather than the virtues of one’s allies. Our assessment is based on a comprehensive database of all front-page stories in El País and El Mundo, Spain’s largest daily newspapers, from 1996 through 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses media coverage of corruption scandals in Spain between 1996 and 2009. The fi rst aim is to determine to what extent the two most-read newspapers in Spain, El País and El Mundo, cover corruption scandals following different political orientations. Results illustrate highly partisan media coverage: there are important differences in how these newspapers cover corruption cases, depending on the political party involved (PP or PSOE). A second goal is to analyse whether the media influence citizens' perception of corruption as a public problem. Results show that, when the number of news stories on political corruption increases, the percentage of citizens that consider corruption as one of the most important problems in Spain also increases. Media impact on public opinion is high and occurs in the short- to mid-term. Finally, the paper analyses to what extent the perception of corruption is influenced by changes in the perception of the economic situation, by showing that this variable has low explanatory power compared to media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comunicación y Sociedad is the property of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, S.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Immigration is a key subject to understand Spaniard opinion about public security. With the aim to study the link between the fear policies and immigration through the arguments of the political dimension of fear and the theory of setting agenda, this paper analyzes how media (El País and El Mundo) and political parties (parliament sessional diary) frame migration from 2000 to 2003 in Spain, a period when the coverage of migration was massive in national newspapers and the politic attention. The origin and the element that determined the narrative construction of migration related to public security explains why public opinion in Spain does not question the link between migration and crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Información y Comunicación is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article aims to analyze migration-related content incorporated in the portal www.elPaís.com. The paper studies the formal treatment given, the issues and rights incorporated, the valuation made of migration and the migrant subject, and the main actors, among other aspects. The categories that divide the analysis are drawn from a review of the Barcelona Process-Union for the Mediterranean, the European Neighbourhood Policy, and the Alliance of Civilizations. All with the aim of establishing the way in the subject of migration appears in this online newspaper. To this end, we analyze both informative and editorial texts from the perspective of the social construction of reality theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish press handling of the swine flu crisis of 2009 was explored by studying front pages and editorials for the E l Pais, E l Mundo, L a V anguardia, E l Periódico and A vui newspapers over a period of 8 weeks. Major ethical issues arising during media coverage were identified, notably the use of scaremongering and sensationalist stratagems. The analysis revealed discrepancies between front page information and editorial stance. Specifically, front pages depicted a situation of alarm liable to generate social panic, whereas editorials tended to play down the crisis and complied rigorously with ethical and social responsibility criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the main epistemological principles and notions which govern the professional practice of journalism are not explicitly stated but implicitly presupposed. Stylebooks are a paradigmatic case of how these ideas are subtly, but firmly, embedded in the newsmaking process. Although these works appear to be "merely" grammar and stylistic handbooks, they actually are much more than that: they bear on issues related to professional judgement, that is to say, on underlying criteria which are the basis of journalistic work. Among these criteria, those related to knowledge and truth are key to understanding the view of journalism fostered by the media and practised by them. The purpose of this research is to offer a contribution to the study of the epistemological principles and notions upon which media work, inasmuch as they are held - generally in an implicit manner - in the stylebooks of the three Spanish leading newspapers nowadays: El País, El Mundo and ABC. More specifically, this study argues (1) that, in spite of minor differences among them, all three stylebooks agree on the major premises of the objectivist tradition of journalism, which remain firmly entrenched in norms for newswriting, and (2) that their shortcomings and inconsistencies show the urgent need to rethink some of the core concepts related to truth and knowledge involved in the professional practice of journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]