The Catalan Political Process for Independence: An Example of the Partisan Media System

Catalonia and Spain: An Overview to Understand the Current Conflict—The September 11, 2012, Demonstration

The Kingdom of Spain—with 46 million inhabitants—greeted the 21st century as a democratic country, a member of the European Community—later the European Union—since 1986 (Bourgogne-Larsen, 1995). The Spain of the new millennium has the peculiarities, advantages, and problems of a modern cosmopolitan society, far from the stereotypes traditionally associated with it and which supposedly made it “different,” an adjective which was widely applied to it during the long dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, which lasted nearly 40 years (Lee, 1988).

Despite this positive transformation, modernization brought, in the social–cultural realm, notable changes in the beliefs, values, ideas, and ways of life of its residents (Rogers, 2010); and in the political sphere, a tension has yet to be resolved between the State and some specific historical nations inside of Spain, the so-called “historical nationalities,” fundamentally located in three areas: Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia (Jover Zamora, Gómez-Ferrer, & Fusi Aizpúrua, 2001). At the same time, the concept of the liberal state fostered in Western Europe following the American and French revolutions was received and applied in Spain in a way that was certainly complex and conflictive, with continual constitutional ruptures, which was most clearly manifested by the Civil War (1936-1969; Vicens Vives, 2012).

The history of Catalonia as a differentiated entity goes back to the long-ago 10th century. In the Middle Ages, when it was among the most advanced societies in Europe, Catalonia established one of the first parliaments on the continent. In this era, it controlled part of the Western Mediterranean, both economically and politically. After centuries of decline in these two areas, it once again took on significance at the beginning of the 19th century. Along with the Basque Country, it helped Spain enter the industrial age (Balcells, 1991). Since then, this territory has been an important center of innovation and a net exporter of merchandise to the rest of Europe. The Catalan conflict, like that of the Basque Country and, to a lesser extent, that of Galicia, form part of the unresolved issues of Spanish democracy.

In Catalonia, which has given the world well-known figures of culture on an international scale—such as the painter Salvador Dalí, the architect Antoni Gaudí, the musician Pau Casals, to name a few—a deep feeling of being a different entity survives. Since the 19th century, many of its political and cultural leaders have maintained a clear position in this regard: Catalonia constitutes a nation, and Barcelona is its capital (Laitin, 1997). Thus, the characteristics which denote nationhood are highlighted: their own language and culture, differentiated institutions, a strong feeling of shared history, and all of the symbols necessary to make this claim, from the flag to the anthem (Woolard & Gahng, 1990).

Nevertheless, in recent centuries, Catalonia has not existed as a political entity differentiated within the State. The regime of Dictator Francisco Franco, especially in his first years in power, systematically attempted to eliminate the use of the Catalan language in a campaign that was referred to as “cultural genocide” (McRoberts, 2001, p. 14). Starting with the transition toward democracy, Catalonia has enjoyed the status of an autonomous community, like 16 other regions (Gibson, 2001). However, this situation is far from federalism. All of this has fed the conviction that we find ourselves faced with a “stateless nation” (McRoberts, 2001).

For many authors, the relationship of Catalonia with Spain offers some interesting points of view about the politics of the “plurinational states” (Armstrong & Read, 1995; Conversi, 1997; McRoberts, 2001). There are many states in the Western world which include these “internal nations,” such as Belgium, Canada, and the United Kingdom (McRoberts, 2001); and all of them struggle with the difficulties of having two or more nations within them (Brown & Fry, 1993). Since the transition, Spain has tested asymmetry as a way to reconcile the demands for autonomy of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, with a commitment to the rest of the country to strengthen the central state (Agranoff, 1996). In parallel, creative models have been proposed for a confederate Spain (Mar-Molinero & Smith, 1996).

Another aspect on which there is consensus is the richness of the Catalan “civil society.” Throughout history, Catalan citizens have organized a large number and great variety of collectives, associations, and so on. Influenced by the 100-year-old tradition of political participation of the bourgeoisie and the middle class, civil society has always seemed stronger in Catalonia than in the rest of Spain (Gunther, 1992). The ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Kingdom of Spain which annulled almost all of the new Statute of Catalonia, which had been endorsed by the voters of this territory and approved in the General Courts (Parliament), triggered a deep disappointment in the Catalan citizenship, a disappointment which, along with the economic crisis of the countries of Southern Europe, contributed to the great demonstration of September 11, 2012, when more than a million and a half citizens occupied the center of Barcelona united under the slogan “Catalonia, new state of Europe.”

The success of the event, which had no comparable precedent in Spain or in the rest of Europe, prompted political leaders, citizens, and the media worldwide to direct their gaze at some demands which, as we have seen, until then had excited much less interest. From that mobilization, which served as a trigger of what later became known as the “process” for the independence of Catalonia, the research detailed in this article was developed.

Media and Political Power: Main Framework

The media play a very important role in shaping public opinion and in the basic socialization of society (Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Luhmann, 2000; McQuail, 1983; Zaller, 1992). In authoritarian countries, deprived of freedom, the media have the function of legitimizing the established power, and their control by the government prevents the emergence into the public sphere of opposing groups and institutions. In democracies, the media are an inseparable part of its institutions and exercise a key role in organizing and developing them.

There is a clear parallel between the development of liberal and democratic societies and the development of different models of communication. Without freedom of expression and without the right of citizens to have access to accurate information, there is a no free and democratic society. Tocqueville already sensed that “in the United States each newspaper individually has little power, but the periodical press is still, after the people, the first of powers” (Tocqueville, 1993, p. 175). Indeed, the media in democracies have had a double essential function: To become, on the one hand, the watchdog of the other powers—and of the public powers in particular—in order to become what was historically referred to as the fourth estate (or fourth power); and, on the other hand, to set itself up as an essential structure for mediation and the socialization of citizens and society. In the Information Society, with the development of the Internet and social media, communication has entered a new historical stage (Becerra, 2003; ; Fuchs, 2008; Mattelart, 2007), a true paradigm shift, in which its power will be even greater than it is today.

The political powers are well aware of the critical importance of the media in shaping public opinion (Asa Berger, 2007; Bordieu, 1997; Chomsky, 2002; Humphreys, 1996; Innerarity, 2006; Lasswell, 1927; McChesney, 2008; Postmann, 1985; Sartori, 2002). And Lippmann recalled that without the media, they could not lead the “bewildered herd” (Lippmann, 1922). The media have been an essential mechanism in mobilizing the population toward certain positions. The media system and its public regulation is an expression of the political and social system.

The media, and now also the electronic communications networks, play a decisive role in the structuring of societies. James Curran (2005) points out seven stories, seven narratives that attempt to understand the influence of the media on social transformation and applies them to the concrete case of Great Britain; however, much of what he points out could be applied to the most advanced societies of the northern hemisphere.

In fact, Curran (2005) proposes seven different stories. First of all, the liberal story, a story that emphasizes the fact that the media train and empower the people to free themselves from absolute power. Second, the feminist story, according to which the media have been instrumental in the process of women’s liberation. Third, the populist story, in the sense that the media have enabled the socialization of communication, thus putting an end to the elitist culture. Fourth, the libertarian story, considering the central role of the media in the secularization of industrial societies and the elimination of laws that protected the privacy of individuals. Fifth, the anthropological story, which emphasizes the role of the media in the construction of nation. Sixth, the radical story, in which the media condition and even usurp the public sphere and public opinion. And finally the seventh, the best known, going from McLuhan to Castells, which insists on the transforming and sometimes determining influences of the media in the public sphere and in people’s lives.

These seven stories are immensely interesting. They make very clear the media’s influence on the profound changes that Western societies have been experiencing. In Spain and in Catalonia, the media have been very active agents in social transformations. All of these stories are applicable to some extent in Spain. In particular, the anthropological story, the weight of the media in the national construction of country (Anderson, 1983; Price, 1995), is very directly applicable in Catalonia, where the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation (CCMA; 2015), the public body that brings together the television and radio channels managed by the Catalan government, specifically incorporates in its public service mission the construction of “country”: “To help the consolidation and expansion of the language, culture, identity and international projection of Catalonia, reflecting the diversity of our society, is one of the main objectives of the CCMA.”

In order to understand the weight of the media in Spain and Catalonia, it is necessary to analyze the media system and its impact on the whole of society. The media systems of each country are the result of many specific factors in their own societies and, in particular, of their social, historical, political, economic, and institutional backgrounds. They are also, however, a powerful mechanism through which we can transform the control and influence of social and political structures. Probably the media systems are becoming the most valuable instrument of social and political transformation in our postindustrial societies. When we refer to the media systems, we mean the model of organization, influence and interaction of the media within a particular country or society.

The Four Theories of the Press, of Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm (1963), identified four media systems that have been references for many years and which still are in many respects. Communication systems are divided into two blocks which in turn are divided into two more theories: On the one hand, the “Authoritarian Theory” and its derivative of the era, the “Soviet-Communist Theory”; and on the other, the “Libertarian Theory” and its derivative the “Social Responsibility Theory.” Forty years later, another theory had less success. Hallin and Mancini (2007) presented their theory of media systems for Western Europe and North America. Their model proposes a division into three: first, the “Mediterranean model or polarized pluralism”; second, the “model of North Europe or Corporate Democracy”; third, the “model of the North Atlantic or Liberal.”

Further to this, Carbonell (2013) proposed a model of media systems: liberal, social liberal, or authoritarian. Within the social liberal model he identifies a subdivision: the coherent liberal and the atrophied liberal. The atrophied liberal systems are those systems in which the social liberal is corrupted by the control of the public media systems by the government and in which financial and economic groups control private media corporations. As a result, the media are quite politicized, and citizens do not have access to free and accurate information. Both Spain and Catalonia can be identified as belonging to the “Mediterranean model of polarized pluralism” (Hallin & Mancini, 2007) or Social Liberal Atrophied System (Carbonell, 2013). Both identifications insist on the fact that the media are controlled in some way by the economic and political power, and that the media have a very partisan approach to their society.

Objectives

Following the great demonstration of September 11, 2012, in Barcelona, and before the territorial elections scheduled for 2 months later, the Catalan government—the Generalitat—financed a research project at Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations (Ramon Llull University) whose objectives were

The research focused on the media with the widest audience or dissemination in the three territorial areas defined: Catalonia, Spain, and the rest of the world.

Methodology

The methodology used in this research was content analysis, applied to the following elements between September 10—1 day prior to the great citizens’ demonstration—and November 30, 2012, following the elections:

The principal magazines with news, interviews, political discussion, and debate included in their format.

Media Sample

Except for the international press, seven different media sources were selected for each type of media and territory. Considering their scope and influence and the need to maintain a certain geographical balance, the number of foreign newspapers selected was higher. However, in some categories, it was impossible to arrive at seven different media sources—in the categories of Catalan television and radio and international online newspapers—because the number of representative news organizations covering the area in question is less than this figure. On the Internet, both pure players among online media, that is, those news portals without a print or audiovisual version—genuinely digital—and the electronic editions of great newspapers of worldwide renown were studied.

Internationally, the volume of media audience was largely conditioned by the size of their respective areas of reference. Therefore, in the definition of the sample, different, complementary empirical criteria—other than audience—were applied.

Starting with the political framework for decision which formed the basis for the process initiated in 2012 in Catalonia, attention was focused on the European media in countries with greatest influence among the founders of the European Union: Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and Holland. The United Kingdom was added to this group as, although it joined the project of the Union at a later date, today it is one of the countries with the greatest power and influence. In addition, at the time the United Kingdom was undergoing a similar process of sovereignty in Scotland. It was also important to add the United States to this sample as a traditional ally of the European Union and a fundamental actor internationally. Thus, this group ended up including most of the principal trading partners of Catalonia.

Likewise, it was crucial to focus on two key sectors: the press and television. While the readership of newspapers has been declining overall in recent years, they still exert a great influence on elite political, economic, and cultural groups. Therefore, they remain decisive actors in shaping public opinion. In addition, television is still the most popular form of media with the greatest potential audience.

It was also decided that it was important, based on their authority, to include prominent print publications that were not general in nature, but, in this case, specialized in economic information.

The great global audiovisual channels operate as news agencies of a sort. For many media, they act as correspondents in areas where they cannot send their own staff. Therefore, they also form part of the study.

For an obvious reason—their recipients are not the public, but rather other media—the news agencies themselves were not incorporated in the sample.

Radio is basically a medium of internal scope within each country, so it does not have much importance as other media. This is why it was discarded from the international dimension of this research.

To obtain units of analysis from digital media, cover pages were captured of the online media which were the object of study. This capture was performed daily at 4:00 p.m., a moment of balance between the morning and evening news cycles.

Thus, a total of 104 different media outlets were selected, in seven different languages: Catalan, Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, and Dutch. Among this sample, there were 24 Catalan, 28 Spanish, and 52 international sources.

As already indicated, the analysis was carried out on journalistic pieces published or broadcast between September 10 and November 30, 2012. A chronology was laid out which established a series of journalistic milestones which had to be examined. On each of these days, the material that appeared on the selected television and radio programs and online media was analyzed. With regard to the press, the study was conducted on newspapers published the day after the milestone event.

The total number of pieces analyzed was 7,077 of which 5,155 were news items and 1,922 opinion.

Factors of Analysis for Objectives 1 and 2

Factors of Analysis for Objectives 3 and 4

The best way to determine the degree of political and ideological pluralism was to identify the actors and sources of information, to observe their reflections in the text, and analyze their position, expressed or implied.

Various categories of actors were established: heads of government; other members of the government, political parties, Catalan civil society, Spanish civil society, the Crown, the European Union, international governments, regional governments, Parliaments, Catalonia and Spain as generic references, and so forth.

In the analysis of the actors, it was also specified whether, in each of their appearances throughout the newspaper account, they were attributed an action or behavior that was of a positive, negative, or indeterminate nature.

With regard to sources, the status or treatment of the persons or institutions that provided material of interest to the journalists was identified. Likewise, it was noted when, on radio or television, the source appeared via a live connection, a format which is superior to others in terms of function, cost, and so forth.

Results

The results of the research show significant differences depending on the geographic area of the media, and depending on their format or genre. As is logical, the Catalan media were those who disseminated the most information about the Catalan independence process. That was the origin of 60% of the pieces studied; state media were the source of 36.2%; and international media, the remaining 3.8%.

It was also predictable that the Catalan media were those to attribute more importance to this issue, including more information than the media of the rest of Spain in printed or digital front pages and in radio or television summaries.

On going into detail, it is clear that international newspapers were those that used more critical headlines during the days analyzed (63.1%), more than the Spanish media (42.5%) or the Catalan (30%). Furthermore, international online media were the most critical (42.9%), closely followed by those of Catalonia (42.6%).

The main subject of the news headlines in Catalonia and in Spain were the Catalan President Artur Mas (17.3% and 9.28%, respectively). Internationally, they emphasized Catalonia (29.9%) and the Spanish president Mariano Rajoy (11.5%).

President Mas was the primary subject of the radio in Catalonia (30.4%), and the same can be said of Spanish and Catalan television (38.1% and 28.7%, respectively), and of Spanish and Catalan online newspapers (18.4% and 15.7%, respectively). With regard to international television and online media, the subject that was most highlighted was Catalonia (70% and 62.5%, respectively).

The type of actions in the headlines of the international press during the days analyzed was 44.9% negative. The proportion of unfavorable headlines reached 50.8% on Spanish television and 71.6% on state online media.

The primary objects of these headlines were, in the Spanish and Catalan press, President Mas (37.1% and 23.7%, respectively); on Catalan radio (15.7%) and on Spanish television (26.8%) the same thing happened. In contrast, on international television and online media, the primary object was Catalonia, with 50% and 6.2%, respectively.

Spanish online newspapers were the media which included the greatest number of headlines with denigration among all of the types of media: 3.4% of the total.

The type of actions in the opinion headlines of all the media, of all kinds and from the different geographical areas, was negative.

The principal recipients of these negative actions in opinion pieces were, in the Catalan press, Catalonia itself (26.1%) and its president, Artur Mas (20.4%). As for Spanish newspapers, the order was the reverse, but with the same actors: Mas (41.4%) and Catalonia (26.1%). On the international scale as well Catalonia (57.8%) came out quite badly.

Opinion leaders and columnists who defended unionist positions in the Spanish media represented 63%; 6.5% were in favor of a Spanish federation which would include Catalonia, along the lines proposed by the main opposition party, the socialists; 6% were in favor of Catalan sovereignty; the ideology of 24.5% could not be identified.

The international media included a majority of contributions of opinion makers and columnists without a clear ideological adherence (66.7%). Those who defended the union of Spain represented 18.8%; in contrast, 12.5% showed themselves to be in favor of Catalan independence; the federalists barely reached 2.1%.

The main actor—that is, the active subject—in the news disseminated by the press in Catalonia was President Mas (15.7%), as well as in Spain (18.3%); while Catalonia was the main actor in international periodicals (15.9%), closely followed by Mas (14.1%) and the Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy (9.1%). The radio, television, and the Internet followed the same pattern with slight variations.

The evaluation of these actors in the news in the press was neutral or indeterminate, both in Catalonia (68.6%) and Spain (53.5%) as well as in the rest of the world (69.9%). This neutral evaluation was present to a lesser extent on Catalan radio and television than in the rest of the State. In fact, the worst evaluation came from the online newspapers and radios of Catalonia (31.7% and 26.7%, respectively).

The most frequent sources of information published by the press and news portals were unidentified persons. Artur Mas was the person most frequently present on Catalan radio (25.3%) and on Spanish television (17.8%).

Conclusions

Following the historic citizens’ mobilization of September 11, 2012, in Barcelona, both in Catalan and Spanish media, a clearly differentiated ideological position was observed, either for or against the process of independence. Although among the Catalan media there was a greater variety of opinions, we can state that both the Catalan and Spanish media behaved in ways that followed the theories described by such authors as Carbonell (2013) and Hallin and Mancini (2007).

Thus, in accordance with the “Mediterranean model of polarized pluralism” (Hallin & Mancini, 2007) and with the Social Liberal Atrophied System (Carbonell, 2013), there were periodical publications, radio stations, television channels, and online media which were openly favorable to the independents’ postulations, while others called for the “right to decide,” that is, the authorization of a referendum which would permit the opinion of Catalan citizens to be made known. As previously pointed out, a greater diversity in the media of Catalonia also translated into a greater pluralism among opinion leaders and columnists.

By type of media, the greatest number of opinions found about the independence process in Catalonia was to be found on online media. While the Catalan online media showed themselves to be mostly in favor of independence, on the Spanish online media, the defense of Spanish unity was absolute. There the percentage of news pieces with critical headlines (i.e., those which expressed value judgments), both those for and those against the secession of Catalonia, were more numerous than in any other type of media. This way of proceeding was clearly described in the seventh story of Curran (2005), which emphasized the ability of the media to influence the public sphere and citizens’ lives.

Internationally, Catalonia and its president, thanks to the beginning of this process, occupied a time and space without historical precedents in media of all kinds and on all different scales. However, often both actors—the territory and its political leader—appeared linked to actions and evaluations of a negative character. The president of the Spanish government functioned in this context as the antagonist of Catalonia and Artur Mas, although, in this case, he was able to avoid negative consideration. In any case, both for Catalonia and for Mas, the criticisms served to make them known on a wider scale and to occupy—though only temporarily—a significant position on the international news agenda.