La agenda política en el 20-D y 26-J en Españauna aproximación al discurso político y mediático

Resumen

The change of political scenario in Spain after the December 20th, 2015 general elections and it repetition at June 26th, 2016, opens a field of analysis in the framework of a variety of disciplines. The work of the present research can be framed at the study of the communication and political science, more precisely, at the political campaigns. Nowadays, political campaigns are placed in a period in which communication gains a vital importance, and, what is more, the political parties are responsible for setting their political agenda in response to the situation of the row. Through the present research, the influence of the media agenda on the political agenda is analysed, more specifically, it studies if the agenda of the mass media is a possible driver of the electoral campaign's' change of the main political parties in electoral campaign. To that end, the case of Spain along the electoral campaigns of 20-D and 26-J, together with the period that elapses among both electoral cycles is analysed. The aim of this research is the relationship among the political agenda and the media agenda in Spain during the electoral period. In the above-mentioned elections, a thematical change in the parties' discourse is observed with a predominance of positional or ideological themes along the 20-D electoral campaign towards a discourse with transversal themes in the political agenda of the 26-J electoral campaign. Similarly, among both campaigns, it can be observed how the media actors take part in the construction of the news by means of devising some news frames in their messages. These messages had a clear purpose: to lead political leaders to solve the situation of instability that was emerging in the society and to contribute to guaranteeing the governability. The theoretical basis of this research lies on the theory of agenda setting, framing together with the agenda building's theory due to the fact that it is based on the construction of the agenda and the study of the diverse agents that take part in its elaboration. In order to carry out this research two investigation techniques have been used: content analysis and in-depth interviews. A double analysis of the content of the themes that were part of political parties' agendas and mass media in the 20-D campaign and 26-J campaign It has been carried out. In addition, it has been analysed the mass media agenda's themes in the period between both campaigns. These in-depth interviews were conducted with political and media leaders who took part in the time's period we have already mentioned before with the main purpose of complimenting the methodological strategy of this research. The results confirmed a thematical change in both agendas. The government pacts that were absent in the 20-D campaign and the need to reach agreements to guarantee the governability, were constantly shown in the mass media along the interelectoral period and were maintained in both agendas during the 26-J campaign. With regards to framing, although the thematic and conflict ones gained strength in the 20-D electoral campaign in both agendas, during the 26-J, the debate framing and political agreement were exposed with strength in the media agenda. As far the political agenda, it was the strategic frames those which took precedence. Nevertheless, this research has reached the conclusion of a discursive and thematic influence of the mass media agenda over the political agenda in the 20-D and 26-J campaigns in Spain.