Analysis of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s non-verbal communication

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2010-1090

Keywords:

television, electronic leader, show, non-verbal communication, politics, Rodríguez Zapatero

Abstract

Politicians, aware of the high level of persuasion and impact television has, have progressively adapted their messages to the guidelines of the audiovisual media to strongly persuade TV viewers, seen as potential voters. Nowadays, communication teams, telegenic quality and marketing from varied political parties, do not only train their politicians to deal with non-verbal communication effectively, but they also reinforce the non-verbal sphere, understanding that a really effective message is so when both dimensions stick together. The present research focuses in a thorough study of the non-verbal language displayed by the Spanish government president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in the first quarter of 2010 throughout which, among other, a political topic remains: the economic crisis. By means of a content analysis, and through a self-developed tool and working method, we will decipher the strategic meaning of this political leader’s kinesic behaviour in the informing pieces broadcast in the second edition of the news broadcast by Televisión Española (TVE) (Spanish public TV).

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Author Biographies

Imelda Rodríguez Escanciano, Miguel de Cervantes European University (UEMC)

Imelda Rodríguez-Escanciano holds a Ph.D. (with honours) in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master’s degree in Teaching and Research for Higher Education from the UNED. She has been Vice-rector for Academic Affairs and Dean at the Faculty of Human and Information Sciences at the Miguel de Cervantes European University (Valladolid, Spain), where she is professor of “Communication and Audiovisual Information”and “Techniques for Effective Communication”.

Her research lines focus on the analysis of political and electoral communications strategies on television. Her most recent research includes the analysis of the effectiveness of the non-verbal communication strategies of Spanish political leaders in audiovisual contexts. She has presented papers on this topic in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures at the University of Manchester and in several Spanish universities. She has co-directed the doctoral thesis “La comunicación no verbal en la proyección mediática de José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero durante el curso político 2006-2007” (Non-verbal communication in the media appearances of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during 2006 and 2007), which was successfully defended at the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense University in Madrid.

She has been a member of the Spanish Association for Communication Research (AE-IC) since it was formed, and a professor of the Master’s degree on Image Consultant and Political Advising (MAICOP) at the Pontificia University of Salamanca.

María Hernández-Herrarte, Miguel de Cervantes European University (UEMC)

María Hernández-Herrarte holds a Ph.D. in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is the academic coordinator of the Journalism Degree at the Miguel de Cervantes European University, where she is professor of Spanish Language, Audiovisual Communication, Enterprises of Information Agencies and Internships. At present, she is full professor of Writing for the Media 1, Public Opinion and Oral Communication Techniques. She has written several research articles on non-verbal political communication.

In terms of research, in the past few years she has taken part in several research projects like “Revisión e investigación del estado de la comunicación interna y externa de la empresa PPG Ibérica” (Study of the state of the internal and external communication of PPG Ibérica); “La Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca vista por sus estudiantes, personal y profesores. Un estudio cualitativo y cuantitativo sobre satisfacción, críticas y expectativas” (The Faculty of Communication at the Pontificia University of Salamanca as seen by its students, staff and faculty. A qualitative and quantitative study on satisfaction, criticism and expectations); and “La diputación provincial de Valladolid. Trayectoria histórica, imagen pública y protagonistas en la democracia (1979-2007)” (The local council of Valladolid. Historical review, public image and democratic protagonists).

She has also been a key speaker in international conferences and congresses related to communication studies. Regarding her journalistic career, she has been editor at El Norte de Castilla (newspaper), Cadena Ser (radio), El Día de Valladolid (newspaper), Diario Palentino (newspaper) and the Agencia ICAL(news agency). She has been a guest in political current affairs programmes at Canal 4 (regional TV channel) and has been cited as expert in political communications by Vanity Fairmagazine (August 2009).

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Published

2024-01-17

How to Cite

Rodríguez Escanciano, I. ., & Hernández-Herrarte, M. . (2024). Analysis of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s non-verbal communication. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, (65). https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2010-1090

Issue

No. 65 (2010)

Section

Miscellaneous

License

Copyright (c) 2010 Imelda Rodríguez Escanciano, María Hernández-Herrarte

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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