“This is nationalism, a return to the tribe”: legitimation and delegitimation of the Via Catalana in the daily press through frame analysis and semi-narrative analysis

Abstract

The research presented examines the coverage of the so-called Via Catalana in four newspapers, two published in Barcelona and two in Madrid. It serves a double purpose: to identify which media legitimate this human chain and which delegitimate it and, consequently, the Catalan sovereigntist process; and to determine the key factor that defines the position of each newspaper. The research, carried out through frame analysis and semi-narrative analysis, studies the day of the Via Catalana and the following day. The results indicate that, while El Punt Avui clearly supports the Catalan process and El Mundo rejects it, El País and La Vanguardia are in an intermediate position. Therefore, despite rejecting the independence of Catalonia, they opt for dialogue and agreement between Catalonia and Spain. Overall, the conflict and responsibility frames predominate, the oppositions between the characters connected with this political conflict thus being emphasised.

KEYWORDS: political communication, journalism, framing, narrative semiotics, sovereigntism, independence.