Affiliation:
1. Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain
2. University of Sevilla, Spain
Abstract
This article addresses the impact of social media on media coverage of criminal justice. We specifically analyse the Spanish media coverage of the glorification of terrorism between 2011 and 2020. Via the construction of correlation networks between words, we identify key discursive elements related to this crime and its variations across time in a database of 1403 news pieces published in the digital versions of Spain’s two major newspapers, ABC and El País. The analyses show how the media have focused their interest on the relationship between social media and the dissemination of certain offensive and/or criminal content while ignoring the element of ‘terrorism’. We discuss how the appearance of such offences in social media and the reaction of the Criminal Justice System are turned into object of mediatic interest, while many of the traditional communicative keys regarding the coverage of both the crimes and the penal system remain untouched.
Funder
Agencia Española de Investigación
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Reference82 articles.
1. Is There a Crime Drop in Western Europe?
2. Moral panic: From sociological concept to public discourse
3. Álvarez J (2018) La historia de ETA: 3.000 atentados, 864 muertos y más de 7.000 víctimas. Cadena Ser. Available at: https://cadenaser.com/ser/2018/04/30/tribunales/1525084315_992624.html (accessed 27 May 2022).
4. Amnesty International (2017) The State of the world’s Human Right: Report 16/17. London: Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/es/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/POL1048002017ENGLISH.pdf (accessed 15 September 2021).