A conceptual model for the analysis of electoral debates on TV. Mediatization and television ceremonies

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1445

Keywords:

debate; television; presidential election; Spain; discourse analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Political debates on television were usually designed to provide viewers trustful information about the political candidates and their manifestos. Unfortunately, the political situation and the communication media have undergone such a change that those manifestos have become mere mediatic representations. In this article, we will analyze how the speech and the actantial position of the candidates get adjusted according to the mediatic show to become the winners, or in the best scenario, as television heroes, or maybe just the opposite. Method: Our main objective is not empirical but theoretical and methodological. We do not wish to describe the electoral debates in Spain. We are trying to highlight a model of analysis, which can be applied to different contexts, so we can contribute to fix a series of operative concepts, in a new framework. Results: To apply the suggested model will allow, among other things, to identify not only the political mediatization effects but also the marked tendency to create ceremonial gestalt in front of planned mediatic events. At the same, time it will allow to identify the aggressiveness and conflictive graduation of the different presidential candidates on the televised debates. Conclusions: From our point of view, it is a clear correlation with the polarization index that public opinion has experienced as well as a tendency to a conflictual spectacularization that television genres have developed in the last decades as a new way of doing politics and journalism.

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Author Biographies

Carles Marín Lladó, Rey Juan Carlos University

Senior Lecturer in Audiovisual Journalism at the Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) since 2003. He has specialized in television and radio information based on its discursive analysis. Since 2012 he directs the Master in Television Reporting at the same university. He has published a dozen books and numerous articles on audiovisual reporting and information, and has a long history in TV and radio as a format creator, director, screenwriter and reporter for both informative and info-entertainment programs. He has been vice-rector and vice-dean of the URJC and director of the Academy of Television Sciences and Arts (AcademiaTV).

José Manuel Pérez Tornero, University of Barcelona

Professor of Journalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Director of the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy and Quality Journalism Chair. He directs the Masters of Political and Electoral Communication Management and Communication and Education of the UAB. He is the director of the Research Group Communication and Education (UAB). It is part of the EU Group of Experts on Media Literacy, and GAPMIL (UNESCO). Specialized in cultural and Educational Television. He has been director of Educational Television at RTVE and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ibero-American Educational Televisions Association (ATEI).

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Published

2020-04-28

How to Cite

Marín Lladó, C. ., & Pérez Tornero, J. M. . (2020). A conceptual model for the analysis of electoral debates on TV. Mediatization and television ceremonies. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, (76), 229–245. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1445

Issue

Section

Miscellaneous