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Basque Studies Program Newsletter
· Issue 56,
1997
Televison News and the Real
World
A portrait of the Basque Country in three TV
channels
by Edorta Arana
(Professor Edorta Arana of the University of the
Basque Country a specialist in media studies, presented the
following on July 24,1994, at the University of Nevada,
Reno.)
Introduction
Almost every TV channel has a news program in prime
time. News programs are like the flags and plaques placed on
the outside of certain official buildings that tell you
where you are and what you can expect to find there. All
News programs follow the same pattern. Their shared
structural aspects also bring similarities to their
content.
Television is the main information source for most of
us. Its power is conditioning the way we see the world and
what happens in it.
Television news programs have various levels or
strata, the content of which are sometimes similar and
sometimes different. It we look at the content and format of
the news on the three television stations broadcasting in
the Basque Country, we can see many interesting points
(Arana, 1995). For example, the way they depict the Basque
territory, the depiction of collective identity and the
portrayal of the relationship between the population and the
social and political structure are different in all three
programs. They talk about the Basque Country in such a
different way that we might think they are talking about
different countries. And maybe they are!
Television news programs: following the same
pattern
A recent comparative study (Saperas and Gifreu, 1995) of
the format of the news programs at ten European television
stations shows the huge similarities they all share. Among
those common elements are the (1) length of the news
programs, (2) the number of news items or stories included,
(3) the role played by the anchor person(s) and (4) the use
of summary either at the end or beginning of the
program.
The comparative study also emphasized the importance
of the structure of the news program, and what is even more
important, the relationship between the format and the
content. As Altheide and Snow (1991:245) wrote,
“content emerges through
form”.
Altheide and Snow point out the magnitude of the
structure of the media, and how it has invaded our social
consciousness. The media creates a frame work for
understanding everyday life and it offers us the logic that
helps us interpret isolated events.
“The most significant media effect on social
orders throughout the world is the folding in of media logic
and perspectives into the daily routines and expectations of
everyday life. The communication formats that mark off the
time, place, and manner of social meanings, definitions, and
activities constitute the taken-for-granted and largely
non-discursive features of everyday life” (Altheide and
Snow, 1991:244)
Their logic and formats have been incorporated and
now they constrain the professional activity of the
journalist on such programs. The production process in the
news rooms have been reduced to a single pattern, and as a
result we see the same kind of news program all over the
world.
That is why when we ask someone to define what a news
program is, the answer will not differ much from the USA to
the Basque Country, from Chile to Kurdistan. Format is one
of the most important defining elements of news programs,
and television professionals are subject to its
dictatorship.
Television as the “main source”
Borrowing Robinson’s (1986) book title, television
is for most of us our main source of information and
opinions. The average time spent in front of a TV set is 183
minutes a day in the Basque Country and 216 in Spain. The
amount of time Americans dedicate to watching television is
even higher.
But the most relevant aspect of television is not the
time we spend in front of it, but the social relevance it
has achieved. A case in point: TV news is our usual
connecting point with things happening even inches from our
doors. Television is considered the most reliable source of
information (sharing that title with radio, in many
countries). Things seen on television are accepted as
reality. Pictures and sounds of high quality and impact are
often treated as things we have seen with our own eyes. We
tend to forget the professional process behind creating the
news (the construction and deconstruction of context, the
manipulation of sound and picture, and the time constraints
involved in the whole process). Instead, we accept the news
as something pure and direct, unmediated. Berger and
Luckmann’s (1966) “The social construction of
reality” is based on the idea that reality is a social
product and the media, including television, is a powerful
instrument in that “creating
process”.
Television in the Basque Country
The Basque Country is located on both sides of the
Pyrenees, on the Bay of Biscay. It is divided not only by
the mountains but also by two strong states: Spain and
France. French and Basque are spoken in the northern part
and Spanish and Basque in the south. In addition, on the
Spanish side we must speak of two areas: Navarra and the
Basque Autonomous Community. Each has its own government,
parliament and many other political and administrative
powers.
In the southern Basque Country, there are three
television stations. One of them, the Basque National
Television Station (ETB), broadcasts to all the different
provinces. The signal can be received in most of the
Northern Basque Country too. This television station has two
different channels, one broadcasting in Basque and the other
in Spanish. The Basque Autonomous Community’s
parliament created ETB in 1982, and since then it has been
instrumental in recovering the Basque language and culture,
and in transmitting information and opinions to the Basque
population. The general director of ETB and many other
decision- making posts are appointed by the Basque
parliament, a nationalist majority. The pro-nationalist
policy in ETB is very strong.
The other two television stations belong to Spanish
National Television (TVE). In fact they serve as affiliates
for general transmissions from Madrid as well as for
regional news broadcasts. One of them, Telenorte, located in
Bilbao and created in 1971, covers only three of the
provinces, the ones in the east. The other, Telenavarra
broadcasts for Navarra. Both broadcast only in Spanish. The
economic, technical, programmatic and functional dependence
on Madrid is evident in their non-nationalist, and even
anti-nacionalist policy.
Earlier, I stressed the common elements in news
formats. Does that mean that the three television channels
we have just mentioned offer the same frameworks to
interpret and understand the daily events? Do they talk
about the same issues and give us the same news? Do they
offer the same portrait of the Basque
Country?
The answer is yes and no, at the same time. It
depends on the depth of the analysis. Garcia and Perales
(1992) mention three strata for analyzing news programs:
profound, intermediate and superficial. Two of them are
similar for all news programs broadcasting in the Basque
Country. But differences emerge in one of the
strata.
The profound level of analysis shows us how their
format and content coincide. The same structural
distribution of themes lead us to two important ideas: the
specific understanding of what is relevant, on the one hand,
and who is allowed to appear on the news on the
other.
The superficial level also shows great similarities
among the different news programs. They all follow the same
structure, choose the same genre, combine sounds and
pictures in the same way. They all use the same audiovisual
resources.
But, there is an intermediate level of analysis, the
one that presents the greatest differences. That level gives
us information about the different points of view of the
broadcaster. This is the level in which the news gets its
context. In this intermediate level we can see that the
themes and actors repeated in every news program present a
different environment depending on the channel’s
ideology. The news is described with different reasons and
consequences, it’s presented in different referential
contexts. In other words, it’s presented in a different
cognitive framework.
Portrait of the Basque Country on the three TV
channels
On the intermediate level, the channels present huge
differences. Enough to create the feeling that they are
talking about different news items or even a different
country. But let’s look, first, at the similarities in
news content.
Politicians and politics
Politics is one of the most important themes of the news.
Four out of ten news items are related to the activities of
the different governmental institutions, political parties,
unions and so on.
But other subjects are also affected by politics. We
see the president or representatives of political parties
taking part in sporting and cultural events. This is the
invasion of social life by politicsand it makes up 50% of
all the news on these programs. Of the people mentioned,
51.4% are professional politicians, members of political
parties or trade unions. Their frequency is matched only by
that of TV professionals and athletes.
Politicians and institutions are also the most
legitimate actors in social life, according to TV news. They
act for the benefit and welfare of society, they are the
movers and shakers of social
improvement.
Society as receiver
Single citizens play a very limited role on TV news in the
Basque Country, and most of the time they appear in negative
situations. They do not show any level of social
organization or complexity. They don’t give opinions.
The few you see are mainly working age males living in the
urban areas.
Events described on the news are perpetrated by the
“establishment” for the benefit of the citizens.
Their presence and the portrayal of institutions projects
the rules of the social game.
Territorial boundaries
The news describes the rules of the game, and also the
“playing field” or territory. Three different
spatial perceptions emerge: the institutional territory
(that belonging to the Spanish political organization), the
technical diffusion area (two main broadcasting areas), and
the informative space (where the news comes from, certain
cities and towns).
Borders are traced verbally (names of actors, places
where actions take place, names of cities and geopolitical
territories) but are accompanied by images of buildings,
flags or other elements with symbolic
value.
Form and content
More time is spent on the main news items, mostly politics.
They are also placed in the summary and they are developed
in special ways: reporters go on location, use more
technical equipment, do live interviews, etc. In short, the
favored news items receive more technical
emphasis.
In addition, pictures are used to illustrate the
verbal information. Although pictures are the basis of
television, that does not apply to news
programs.
Journalists personalizethe content of the news and
present it to the audience.
Euskal Telebista (ETB)
The Basque Country as presented on ETB is a politically
and administratively a structured country with a socially
coherent and defined community living normal lives. Although
centered in the Basque Autonomous Community, ETB uses
symbolic references to Euskal Herria as a
whole.
Most of the actors are formal groups (political
parties and unions) and institutions (local, provincial and
autonomous). ETB does not deny the existence of
Navarra’s government, but information focuses on the
Basque Autonomous Community. Even Spanish governmental
institutions are somewhat eclipsed by the Basque ones.
Individual citizens get little or no coverage on ETB
news.
Politics and societal concerns make up over 60% of
the subject matter on ETB news. Politicians comprise 51.6%
of the actors we hear about on ETB, and of the events
covered, 33.3% are about the Basque Autonomous
Community.
Apart from that, administrative and social
territories are confused and very often a metonymical
process takes place. For instance they might use the
expression “Basque Country” when they are talking
only about one part of it. This is because of the
administrative division of the Basque Country and also
because ETB gives a symbolic picture of a bigger and wider
Basque Country, closer to the cultural, linguistic and
historical territory.
For instance, when giving the weather report they
show the map of all seven provinces, but they only emphasize
the weather conditions and traffic problems of the Basque
Autonomous Community.
With regard to the Basque collective identity, ETB
emphasizes the similarities between all Basques and plays
down the differences. The definition of “us” is
based on the comparison between Basque people and the rest
of Europe.
The presence of journalists in the news is very
strong. The journalist offers information to his own
community. “I am one of you. Here is the news of
interest to all of us, including me.” Thus is created
the perception of a community sharing daily events in a
country with a homogeneous, integrated and normalized
society.
Telenorte
Telenorte is the name of the news broadcast from Bilbao
by the Spanish Television Station (TVE) for the Basque
Autonomous Community. Its content and transmission are
limited to the Basque Autonomous Community which appears
very much integrated, practically and symbolically, within
the general Spanish structure.
With regard to content, Telenorte’s subject
matter leans heavily to politics and societal concerns
(40.6% and 31.1% respectively). And 52.8% of all news items
are related in some way to politics. As far as the actors in
the news, 70.6% are politicians or specialists or
“powerful people” portrayed as defenders of
democracy, representatives of the majority, working for the
well being of society.
Telenorte uses four elements to construct the
boundaries of their territory: (1) The origin of the actors
(or news-making figures); (2) the place the news happens;
(3) the use of special geopolitical terminology (“The
Basque Country”, “here”, “in our
community”, etc.); (4) comparisons and references. They
also use the terms “Spain,” “Spanish,”
and “other parts of Spain.”
On Telenorte news, Basque society appears as a group
of separate but heterogeneous individuals, an unarticulated
group of citizens perched on the edge of conflict, full of
differences.
Telenavarra
The news program broadcast by the Spanish National
Television Station from Pamplona is intended to give a voice
and a face to the province of Navarra. Created in 1986, it
gives listeners a feeling of belonging and helps to build a
proper sense of identity. However, specific elements of
Basque identity are never mentioned on this program. Social
normality and institutional functionality are very much
stressed in Telenavarra. For instance, 84.3% of the actors
come from political parties, unions, and governmental
institutions or they are specialists in certain
subjects.
Even though the themes related to politics are those
most often mentioned, the ones dealing with other social
aspects and technology are also very important. In fact
those are the subjects used to give politicians the chance
to appear on the news and talk about improvements in the
quality of life in Navarra.
At the same time, Telenavarra presents the different
institutions as working together with private companies.
Thus the presence of specialists talking about economic,
social and technical improvements is very
common.
Telenavarra’s content is clearly focused on
Navarra. 51.9% of news items occur in Navarra. Those that
happen elsewhere are pertinent in some way to that
community. Of the actors on the news, 62.8% come from
Navarra. But even so, a wider spatial reference is drawn
covering the whole of the Spanish State. Navarra is defined
as an administrative area integrated into the general
structure of Spain.
But, as we have said before, the presence of the
Spanish administrative structure is very strong. For
instance, much of the news mentioned in this news program
comes from other parts of the Spanish State, mainly Madrid.
But, what is more relevant 15.7% of the actors are Spanish,
and only 9.8% of the actors can be identified with the
Basque Country. The elements of comparison and reference are
usually from Spain. Here is an example: “Navarra is one
of the autonomies with the lowest unemployment ratings in
the nation”.
Conclusions
As we said at the beginning, news programs
incorporate certain formal aspects of presenting the news
that condition the way we see social
reality.
Euskal Telebista depicts the Basque Country as
socially structured, coherent, homogeneous and normalized.
The metonymy of considering the Basque Autonomous Community
as the totality of the Basque Country is used very often
through nationalist symbolism.
Telenorte is centered around news from the Basque
Autonomous Community and its governmental institutions. The
depiction of the Basque Country is limited and restrictive,
and tied to administrative activity. Navarra and the
Northern Basque Country do not exist for Telenorte, neither
informatively nor symbolically. Spain is portrayed as a more
general framework for the social, economic and governmental
relationship. The population is heterogeneous and does not
present distinctive elements of collective
identity.
Telenavarra’s content centers around the
autonomous governmental institutions and how much they work
for the citizens and their quality of life. Navarra appears
prosperous and normalized in its day-to-day life, well
integrated into the complex and wider structure of the
Spanish State. No mentions of culture or language are made
to offer elements of collective
identity.
These news programs create spheres of informative
importance coinciding with the political and multiple
governmental division of the Basque Country. In sum, the
picture of the Basque Country we get from the news is that
of a non-existent country, located somewhere in the
Pyrenees.
Bibliography
Altheide, D.L. and Snow, R.P.: Mediaworlds
postjournalism (Mounton de Gruyter,
1991).
Arana, E.: Gizarte eta Nazio errepresentazioa
telebista-albistegietan. Euskal Herria Teleberri,
Telenavarra eta Telenorte albistegietan (Leioa: EHUko
Argitarapen Zerbitzua,1995).
Arana, E.: “Euskal Herria Teleberri, Telenavarra
eta Telenorte albistegietan” in Jakin,
1997.
Arana, E.: “Telebista-albistegiak: diversitas
inter pares” in Uztaro, 18,
1996.
Berger, P. and Luckmann, T.: La
construcción social de la realidad (Buenos Aires:
Amorrortu, 1st edition in castillian,1968) (last
1984).
Garcia, B. and Perales, A.: “Los informativos de
televisión: un modelo más allá de las
diferencias” in REIS, 57, 1992, pp.
137-147.
Robinson, J.P., Levy, M.R. and Davis, D.K., et al:
The main source: learning from television news
(Beverly Hills: Sage, 1986).
Saperas, E. and Gifreu, J.: “El formato de la
informacion en las televisiones europeas. Elementos comunes
y peculiaridades significativas” in Telos, 42,
1995, pp. 35-47.
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