La construcción de la imagen de la Iglesia Católica a través del mensaje periodístico. Análisis del pontificado de Benedicto XVI en el diario El País

Abstract

Abstract The thesis aims to delve into the representation of the Catholic Church by the general press in Spain, and for this purpose the case study chosen is the story elaborated by the newspaper El País during the almost eight years of Benedict XVI's pontificate (2005-2013). Thus, using the framing paradigm as a methodological approach, the research combines the empirical and interpretative approaches to consider both the identification data, impact and importance of the informative pieces published during this period and the thematic and generic approaches of the discourse. The results obtained are presented in the fifth and central chapter, in which the three main questions derived from the objectives formulated are answered: when has the pope been news, why has he been news and whether the story has incurred in certain risks from the journalistic point of view. The justification of the work lies in the desire to verify whether the general press in Spain constructs an incomplete and simplistic image of the Catholic Church, considering that the pontificate of Benedict XVI has been richer and more complex than what this newspaper has shown. This conjecture does not stem from a particular judgment or a personal opinion, but from studies that confirm certain deficiencies in the national journalism when it deals with the religious fact. Precisely for this reason, by way of theoretical support for the hypothesis, the third chapter of the work has been dedicated to offering an overview of the peculiarities and obstacles it faces, which respond fundamentally to three factors: the submission of the religious reality to the formats and routines of the non-denominational press, the relations between the Church and the media, as well as the fact that religious information is not included among the areas of journalistic information. Two general conclusions can be drawn from the headings studied: the first is that the dialogue between the journalistic companies and the institution, as well as the academic formation and professional attitude, condition the communicative account of Catholicism. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that some of the shortcomings found in the informative approach to the Church are common to the general journalistic practice. Although this is a thesis in information sciences, eminently journalistic, the work dialogues with two other disciplines such as sociology and history. This is so because in order to accredit the power of the press in shaping the collective imaginary and articulating the public agenda, we have turned to the sociology of news production, one of the areas of research that can be located in the broader field of media sociology, which is, in turn, one of the essential theoretical matrices for the study of routines in this profession. That is to say, this work is rooted in the theoretical tradition that conceives the media as participants in the social construction of reality. On the other hand, the publication dedicates the fourth chapter to review and synthesize the pontificate of Joseph Ratzinger, as well as the relations between Spain and the Holy See during this period.