The 10-N election debate of 2019 in Spain: political candidates and RTVE

Abstract

Introduction: Electoral campaigns aim to increase voter participation, with debates being a crucial means to engage with citizens, especially in Spain where viewership exceeds ten million. Despite the rise of new media, television remains the preferred medium for following political information, according to the Center for Sociological Research. Methodology: The research analyzes the speeches of political candidates in the electoral debate of November 10, 2019, in Spain, using framing theory as the analysis methodology. It also assesses whether the coverage by Radio and Television of Spain (RTVE) on Twitter of the debate serves its public service function or merely reproduces political discourse. Results: Findings indicate that RTVE informed the citizenry without reproducing political discourse, though tweets about conflicts between candidates and measures of the PSOE were most frequent. Discussion: The role of RTVE and its Twitter coverage is discussed, questioning whether it achieves a balance between informing and not reproducing political discourses. Conclusions: The study concludes that the public television, through RTVE, fulfills its role of informing without replicating political discourse, highlighting the importance of electoral debates in the democratic process.