The myth of media brainwashing on Catalans

We are well acquainted with several aspects of the colossal process of change in Catalonia’s political orientation that started at the turn of the century and began to take hold following the fiasco of the 2006 Catalan Statute reform. We know the facts (what happened) rather well. We are equally familiar with the causes (the reasons why it happened), but it will be a while before we are able to ascertain the social mechanisms that enabled it (how it happened). Naturally, it is the facts that get the limelight while the transformation process is underway, and the social agents involved strive to point out its causes. Once change is stabilised in a new balance of political forces within an institutional framework, though, we will need to study in depth how it ever came to happen.

Still, today we already know that one of the great enigmas that merits looking into is the role played by mass media in Catalonia. Or, rather, the role that they have not played! Indeed, contrary to every “law” of media analysis, we have experienced a radical transformation that has occurred regardless --or even in spite-- of the existing information hegemony. In other words, a change of mentality has taken place, even though Catalonia’s dominant mass media have remained Spanish and their Catalan counterparts have been declining since the 1990s.

This is not the place to present extensive data about the communicative framework where the great changes in national identification or support for independence have occurred, to name two examples. However, I would like to mention some of the latest figures available to us.

There are four main daily newspapers printed in Catalonia (Ara, El Punt-AVUI, El Periódico and La Vanguardia). The former two accounted for 14.5 per cent of the average daily sales in 2014, whereas 85.5 per cent of overall sales (268,000 copies) went to the latter two, both of which openly oppose independence. Readership figures are somewhat better for ARA and El Punt-AVUI: 18.5 per cent from October 2014 to May 2015.

With regards to TV, the figures for 2014 show that Catalonia’s public television network (TVC) attained a share of 16.7 per cent (12.6 per cent for TV3 and 4.1 for the other stations), while 8TV’s share was 3.5 per cent. In contrast, Spain’s public broadcasting corporation (TVE) plus all of Spain’s private general TV networks had a combined share of 49.4 per cent, with the remainder going to theme channels. That is to say, on average Catalans watch TV for a total of 250 minutes a day, of which only 50 correspond to Catalan TV stations, who are often obsessively at pains to display the widest range of standpoints. It is only with radio networks that this situation is reversed. In 2014 --and out of a total audience of nearly 2 million-- RAC1, Catalunya Ràdio and Ràdio4 accounted for 70 per cent of all listeners.

Not only do these figures refute any ludicrous claims of media brainwashing on Catalans, but they also beg an explanation as to what other factors might have managed to overcome the almighty “influence” against independence that Catalonia has systematically been exposed to.

I would like to highlight two such factors, for now. First, the role of social networks and online newspapers such as VilaWeb, which have managed to break the hegemony of traditional media discourse. And, above all, the work of grassroots groups. On the latter, I can only but express my condolences for the recent, premature passing away of my good friend Antoni Carné, a generous, tireless fighter who was chairman of Catalonia’s Ens de l’Associacionisme Cultural (Body of Culture Associations). I am not exaggerating when I say that it is thanks to the likes of Antoni Carné that Catalonia has beaten the media hegemony that victimised, frightened and paralysed us. It is them, precisely them, who have shown us how to stand tall.