The Spanish-Catalan political crisis as represented in the UK, French and German press (2010-2017)

Abstract

Political events in Catalonia from 2010 to the present have marked part of the Spanish and EU media agenda and have resonated in the international media. We analysed German, French and UK media coverage and opinions of foreign correspondents regarding the Catalan independence movement for the period 2010 to 2017. We analysed press representations of the positions of the Spanish and Catalan governments and of the confrontation between them, focusing on the main newspapers (Le Figaro, Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeustsche Zeitung, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian) of the major EU economies of Germany, France and the UK. Analysis was intended to determine the degree of (il)legitimacy of the independence movement as well as arguments in favour of the Spanish status quo and even of European identity. We conducted a framing analysis of 563 press articles and an ethnographic study based on in-depth interviews with four foreign correspondents in Spain. The analysed newspapers provided wide coverage of the Catalan independence movement, framed the crisis as a conflict between the governments of Spain and Catalonia and called repeatedly on the EU to mediate.