ABSTRACT

This article first outlines the conditions in which the media could contribute to creating and maintaining an atmosphere that discourages corruption practices. Second, based on the content analysis of 4361 online news articles, it demonstrates that these conditions are not present in the media coverage of corruption in Spain. The Spanish media do not promote a substantive frame, i.e., a meaningful discussion on the causes, consequences and remedies of corruption. There is a very low correspondence between how corruption is debated in the parliament, where substantive frames predominate, and how it is reported in the media. Furthermore, the media do not promote a pluralistic debate. The main players in corruption related articles are the judiciary and political actors, mainly executive elites and political parties involved in corruption scandals. Even though civil society actors, such as non-governmental organizations, are important for generating public pressure against corrupt practices, the results show that these groups go practically unnoticed in public debates. The findings also show that the dynamics that could help to curb corruption are neither present in the news articles of a news agency, nor in those published in newspapers with different political orientations.

摘要

本文首先概述了媒体可以在哪些条件下提供帮助，以创造并维持一种阻止腐败行为的氛围。其次，基于对4361篇在线新闻文章的内容分析，表明在西班牙腐败的媒体报道中不存在这些条件。西班牙媒体不倡导实质性框架，即就腐败的原因，后果和补救办法进行有意义的讨论。在议会中如何辩论腐败，实质性框架占主导地位以及媒体如何报道腐败之间的对应关系非常低。此外，媒体不提倡多元化辩论。腐败相关文章的主要参与者是司法和政治行为者，主要是参与腐败丑闻的行政精英和政党。尽管民间团体（例如非政府组织）在产生公众对反腐败行为的压力方面很重要，但结果表明，这些群体在公开辩论中几乎没有被注意。研究结果还表明，可以抑制腐败的动力既没有出现在新闻社的新闻文章中，也没有出现在政治取向不同的报纸上。