Mitjans de comunicació i dret a l'habitatge: El discurs informatiu sobre habitatge des dels inicis de la crisi econòmica de 2008 fins a l'actualitat i la incidència mediàtica de la Plataforma d'Afectats per la Hipoteca

Abstract

This thesis studies the media discourse on housing and its evolution between 2008 and 2019 in publications edited in Catalonia, one of the autonomous regions within Spain most affected by evictions and where the main movements that defend this right were born: the PAH (Platform for People Affected by Mortgages) in 2009 and the "Sindicat de Llogateres" (Union of Tenants) in 2017. The analysis is based on the androcentric/non-androcentric perspective and examines the media influence of the different agents involved in the housing issue (political and economic power centers, people affected by evictions, social movements, etc.). Regarding social movements, this thesis is focused on the communication strategy and the media influence of the PAH. The housing problem is particularly relevant in the Catalan and Spanish context. Although the challenges to ensuring the right to housing exist around the world, because of the conversion of housing into a financial asset in international markets, in Spain, there are additional problems due to the lack of social and affordable housing inherited from the Franco dictatorship. During this period, the regime established the preferential model of access to housing based on the purchase of owned housing through mortgage loans. In the communication field, the main contribution of the research is the comprehensive, global and diachronic examination of the media discourse on housing for over a decade. In addition, the analysis compares the media discourse of traditional newspapers with the informative approach of this topic in independent media. This type of media has grown significantly since 2008 after the weakening of the traditional press. The thesis uses the documentary method to study the socioeconomic and political context in which the media discourse on housing is circumscribed and the most relevant historical background. Moreover, the research uses the content analysis method to examine not only news and articles but also tweets from PAH's Twitter account (with methodological adaptations depending on the channel). For this research, 657 communication units (285 from La Vanguardia, 267 from El Periódico and 105 from Directa) and 307 tweets by PAH Barcelona were analyzed. In addition, seven PAH Barcelona activists were interviewed using the semi-structured qualitative interview methodology. The overall results of the analysis indicate that the media discourse in traditional newspapers reflects more the interests of power centers than those of people affected by eviction and those of social movements. This trend is more accentuated in La Vanguardia (whose media discourse mainly reflects the interests of the real estate and financial sectors) than in El Periódico (whose media discourse mainly reflects the interests of political power). On the contrary, Directa, an independent publication, essentially reflects the point of view of organized social movements throughout the entire analysis period and gives limited informative relevance to the economic and institutional agents. The diachronic results indicate that social movements that defend the right to housing have gained media influence since the birth of the PAH in 2009, compared to the previous period, when there was no strong citizen counterpower. In addition, the weakening of the power centers legitimacy due to the economic crisis contributed to the expansion of PAH’s counter-hegemonic narrative among the public opinion, both through social networks and also through their relationship with the media, which has been considered strategic by the platform since its foundation. The period in which the right to housing movement achieved the greatest media influence was the 15-M Movement (2011-2013). Nevertheless, since 2017, it has become a reference source of information about renting.

Date of Award	10 Sept 2021
Original language	Catalan
Supervisor	Amparo Moreno Sarda (Director)