The coexistence of rigor and freedom of expression in “La Contra” section of La Vanguardia. Case study of interviews with pseudo-scientific content

Abstract

This is a study of the section of La Vanguardia called “La Contra”. It has been prompted by the steady stream of complaints received by the newspaper from readers, both individually and collectively, through the Catalan Association of Scientific Communication (ACCC), as a result of the pseudo-scientific statements of the persons interviewed. The study is based on three parts. First it establishes a theoretical basis for the concepts which underpin the conflict. Secondly, it analyzes the theoretical strengths of the claims and lastly it identifies the main strengths and weaknesses from a set of pseudoscientifically themed back covers, according to the theoretical foundations. The results support partially the theoretical construction of La Vanguardia, limit the ACCC’s arguments and show a bias between the theoretical goals and the final result appearing on newspaper’s back cover.

KEYWORDS: La Vanguardia, “La Contra”, scientific rigor, journalistic rigor, pseudoscience, interview.