spain and the media
FRANQUISMO: CONTROL OF THE MEDIA UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIMEThe political system established in 1939 by Francisco Franco was, along with the Salazar regime in neighboring Portugal, one of the longest-lasting dictatorships in Western Europe. It was the quintessential "authoritarian" regime (Linz 1975), characterized by limited and non-responsible political pluralism, political demobilization, a leader who exercised power within formally undefined but clearly recognizable limits, and the absence of an elaborated ideology. While these regime characteristics remained more or less constant, an overview of four decades of franquismo must make note of four distinct periods. From the victory in the civil war in 1939 until the mid 1940s, its totalitarian aspirations, its association with Hitler and Mussolini, and the recency of the war led to harsh repression, the presence of military officials among its governing elite, and efforts to establish a powerful quasi-fascist party. The regime during the 1950s was quite different: totalitarian aspira!tions abandoned, the party and its ideology were progressively watered down; and international isolation, stark poverty and an attempt to implement an autarchic economic development strategy ha
One indirect measure of this "vicarious learning" process can be seen in the findings of a survey conducted in 1973, prior to the death of Franco, which revealed that 29 percent of those polled sta!ted that they identified themselves with one of the major West European "political families" -Christian democratic, liberal, social-democratic, socialist or communist (Linz et al 1981, 14). But in accord with the basic nature of the authoritarian Franco regime, the primary impact of media control was to secure the passive acquiescence of the Spanish population, rather than to resocialize the citizenry into active participatory roles. The scope and pace of fundamental changes in political orientations of Spain's citizenry are impressive, and challenge some common notions about political socialization. This led to the emergence of new forms of self-censorship which, in combination with state-imposed sanctions based on arbitrary and poorly defined criteria, led to confusion and occasionally harsh repression, including heavy fines, confiscation of newspaper and magazine issues, and, on occasion, the closure of offending publishing houses. The franquist regime created a substantial journalistic empire of its own, although, in contrast with some other non-democratic systems, it did not establish press or radio monopolies. Throughout the franquist era, radio coverage of politically relevant developments was subjected to severe restrictions. In two polls conducted in 1976, seven out of ten were able to do so. Openness and balance in coverage of international news was especially notable among those newspapers which could afford to have their own foreign correspondents. Only during the final ten years of franquismo were privately owned newspapers able to benefit from some liberalization, enabling them to play an important role in the crucial period immediately preceding the death of Franco and throughout the democratic transition. The temporary migration of 2 million Spanish workers abroad (most of them to affluent, peaceful, democratic West European countries), and the annual influx of 40 million tourists, alm!ost all of them from rich democracies, exposed many Spaniards to the values of democracy, provided many of them with models for emulation, and destroyed the credibility of the regime's anachronistic propaganda. A "reemergence" of civil society, featuring much greater ideological pluralism, also resulted (Lopez Pintor 1982, 90). In addition, it enabled the state to intervene in the appointment and dismissal of newspaper managers and editors, even in the case of the privately owned press. In coverage of local news, some minor criticisms were tolerated, although these sometimes resulted in conflicts with the local authorities and the imposition of sanctions against the offending newspaper. The absence of a clearly defined regime ideology and mobilizational intentions meant that no identifiably "franquist" political culture would be inculcated into more than a small minority of the population, but a marked apoliticism and cynicism towards "politics" was widespread (Montero and Torcal 1990).
Common topics in this essay:
Press Law,
Pina Aranguren,
Gonzalez Seara,
Hitler Mussolini,
Lopez Pintor,
West European,
Ley Fraga,
Western Europe,
Japan Britain,
Chamber Commerce,
print media,
press law,
communications media,
spanish political,
civil war,
lopez pintor,
late 1960s,
political culture,
spanish society,
lopez pintor 1982,
authoritarian regimes,
press law 1938,
basic attitudes towards,
concerning linkage media,
press law 1966,
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Acceptance Essays
