Newspapers Coverage of Spain and the United States: A Comparative Analysis

Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón
DOI: 10.4236/sm.2012.21009                

Abstract

This article assesses the content of foreign news coverage in the United States and Spain. It draws on content analysis of two U.S. and two Spanish newspapers over a 28-month period, during 2005-2007 and in 2009. The results show that the content of these newspapers tends to be more negative when covering politics. However, there was a major change in the type of coverage in the Spanish newspapers from the period 2005-2007 to 2009. Coverage of U.S. politics in 2009 was much more positive than in the previous period studied. These findings suggest that newspapers contribute to an overall unfavorable representation of these countries for their respective populations. Also, when covering international news, newspapers are less independent from their government agendas than they claim; supporting critical research findings that mainstream media is vulnerable to “news management” by the government.

Keywords

Social Representation; International News; Agenda Setting; Spain; United States

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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