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COH10 Communication andNational Policies
PP 688 The History of Media Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s from the Mediatization Perspective. A Research Approach
M. Loeblich1
1 FU Berlin, Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Berlin, Germany
In the first two decades after the end of National Socialism the structural foundation of the West-German broadcasting and print media was laid (Koszyk
1986, Kutsch 1999). These activities were carried out by directly involved actors without wider public attention (Kleinsteuber 1982: 44). This situation
changed at the end of the 1960s: the policy field, now called “media policy”, gained greater visibility in the political sphere. Political parties made media
policy a top topic on party congresses and established media commissions. Media policy became object of Federal Government statements, draft laws and
of a large research programme. The publishers association issued a new journal dedicated exclusively to media policy. In communication studies, media
policy became the most important research subject. Contemporaries observed a “highly emotionalized and impatient” debate (Roegele 1973: 7) that,
with changing issues, lasted well beyond the introduction of private broadcasting in the mid-1980s. Why there was such an upturn of media policy in
the 1970s given its usual secondariness as policy field?The presentation will not yet be able to give a complete answer to this research question but develop
a study design that will be suited for researching the history of media policy. A theoretical framework will be developed that guides central methodical
decisions concerning research period, sources and source analysis. The theoretical framework is based on mediatization theory (Meyen/Thieroff/Strenger
2014) informing historical interpretation as well as on the agent-structure dynamics approach providing analytical concepts (Schimank 2010). Referring
to mediatization, the upturn of media policy in the 1970s can be conceived of as second-order long-term response of politics and other areas in society to
a changing media system (beginning expansion of television, press concentration, rise of critical journalism) and the overall gain in significance of public
communication from the end of the 1950s on. This contribution emphasizes that an important response of actors consisted of influencing media coverage
about themselves by getting involved in media policy. Drawing on mediatization theory’s assumption, that different subsystems of society depend on
media coverage to a varying degree, the involvement of actors in media policy debates can be explained (apart from politics for example churches, trade
unions, social movements and communication science). The fact that the media have played an important role as actors themselves, can be explained
by the changing actors’ and resource configuration in the media system (appearance of public service broadcasters) and in its environment (e.g. change
of government,“68ers”) as well as by changing structures of expectation and interpretation (e.g. demands for internal press freedom, media as institutions
for critique and control; cf. Schimank 2010). Literature H.J. Kleinsteuber: Rundfunkpolitik. Opladen 1982 K. Koszyk: Pressepolitik für Deutsche 1945–1949.
Berlin 1986 A. Kutsch: Rundfunk unter alliierter Besatzung. In: J. Wilke (ed.): Mediengeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Köln 1999, p. 59–90 M.
Meyen/M. Thieroff/S. Strenger: Mass Media Logic and The Mediatization of Politics. A theoretical framework. Journalism Studies, Vol. 15 (2014), 271–288
O.B. Roegele: Medienpolitik und wie man sie macht. Osnabrück 1973 U. Schimank: Handeln und Strukturen. Weinheim 2010
PP 689 The Role and the Positioning of Catalan and Basque Nationalist Newspapers in the Process of Building Democracy in Spain (1977–1981)
D. Caminada1
1 Universitat Pompeu Fabra UPF, Communication, Barcelona, Spain
The objective of this paper is to analyze the role and the positioning of Catalan and Basque nationalist newspapers in the process of building democracy
in Spain after General Franco’s death. Major events of the Transition to democracy are related to Spanish politics and therefore are focused on building
a new State with democratic institutions and adopting a legal system based on the strength of a new Constitution approved and accepted by the vast
majority of Spanish political parties and population. In addition to a Madrid-oriented vision, other perspectives should be taken into account, considering
that Catalonia and the Basque Country (two “historical nationalities”with deeply rooted identities) faced the Transition with their own agendas, claiming
their own priorities and setting high expectations in relation to major political issues such as State-building, constitutional checks and balances, Statutes
of Autonomy, self-governments, decentralized Spain and human rights. On this point, the demands of Catalan and Basque nationalism played an important
role and so Catalan and Basque nationalist press. Going in-depth with the so-called Catalan and Basque Transitions, the research is focused on three daily
newspapers: Catalan nationalist 'Avui' and Basque nationalists 'Deia' and 'Egin'. 'Avui' was published for the first time on April 23rd 1976 and ideologically
represented a wide spectrum of Catalan nationalism. 'Deia' published its first copy on June 8th 1977, days before democratic elections were held for the first
time in Spain. 'Deia' gave public voice to moderate nationalism. 'Egin' appeared for the first time on September 30th 1977 and was ideologically connected to
radical leftist Basque nationalism. Since the resignation of its first editor-in-chief, Jesuit Mariano Ferrer, at the end of March 1978, 'Egin' has been repeatedly
accused of supporting ETA armed struggle for independence. The paper covers the period 1977–1981 and includes major events of the political Transition
affecting Catalan and Basque nationalist claims. The research has a qualitative orientation and combines two different techniques. Firstly, qualitative con‑
tent analysis. The corpus is limited to editorial articles and other opinion contributions perceived as relevant for the positioning of each newspaper. Five
main categories of analysis have been described for conducting the analysis: a) Democratic system; b) State-building model; c) Catalan and Basque nation‑
alism; d) History and culture; e) Political violence and terrorism. Each category has been divided in 10 different subcategories. Secondly, in-depth interviews
with contemporary journalists. The data and information collected in content analysis has been complemented with the results of in-depth interviews
with the editors-in-chief of 'Avui', 'Deia' and 'Egin' during the period 1977–1981. In a first stage, the research pretends to analyze, separately, the role and
the positioning of Catalan and Basque nationalist newspapers regarding major events of the Transition. In a further step, the paper will contribute with
a comparative vision, listing similarities and differences between both Catalan and Basque situations.