Exploring News Frames, Sources and Editorial Lines on Newspaper Coverage of Nuclear Energy in Spain

ABSTRACT

Five nuclear power plant operate in Spain, one of the EU countries with less support for nuclear energy. The aims of this investigation are to find out if news on nuclear power are provided from an environmental point of view, who are the sources in the nuclear debate and which are the editorial lines in Spanish newspapers from 2008 to 2012. The results show that the environmental perspective on nuclear power is unusual. Using an eco-efficient frame, it is defined as a clean source of energy. Politicians play the greatest role and party political use is made of the nuclear power issue. Spanish nuclear coverage emphasizes the views of interest groups rather than those of scientists and other experts, ecologists or citizens. Thus, the press doesn't play the substantive role in public deliberation and don't connect with the different interests and sensitivities existing in the public sphere about nuclear energy.

KEYWORDS:

• Nuclear power
• media
• framing
• energy
• Spanish press

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

María-Teresa Mercado-Sáez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8670-9111

Elisa Marco-Crespo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1337-6894

Àngels Álvarez-Villa http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7419-8249

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by National Research Plan, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Spanish Government (Reference CSO2012-38383) and Universidad Cardenal Herrera CEU, CEU Universities [UCH CEU INDI16/21].