The Spanish Media's Coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election
The Spanish media is divided by political affiliation, with readership and viewership separated accordingly. As the 2008 presidential race heats up in the United States, so too does it gain coverage in the Spanish press. Key issues that often make Spanish headlines include immigration and the war in Iraq. The two newspapers with the largest circulation and readership are ABC, with a right-leaning orientation, and El Pais, which aligns itself with the left. These left and right divisions are different in Spain than in the US, however, with the right likened to conservative democrats in the United States and the left party, PSOE, seen as liberal democrats. Hillary Clinton gets a lot of press as the former first lady and wife of a president that the Spaniards loved. Also, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson are popular in the press for their multicultural appeal and their interest in creating change that the Spaniards would so like to see.
Historically, this election signifies the place of Americans in Spanish eyes. After the March 11, 2004 attacks at Madrid’s Atocha station, the Spanish people quickly voted for and created a major change in the central government. Former President Aznar, a Bush supporter, was not re-elected because of the extremely unpopular Iraq War. Instead, the current President Zapatero from the Socialist Party (PSOE) was elected and immediately ended Spain’s involvement in the War on Terror. The Spanish people rallied around this change, and the Bush administration was depicted negatively in almost all aspects of the Spanish press. For example, a sketch comedy show depicted a Bush impersonator in overalls dancing with an Aznar impersonator. The Spanish wondered when the Americans would generate their own seemingly necessary change. The 2008 election signifies the chance for Americans to show Spain that they not only are demanding a change in the Iraq War but also in how the world’s hegemon negotiates its power in the face of the rest of the world.
In recent ABC and El Pais articles from January through June 2007, each of the Democratic candidates’ debates has been reviewed, and individual articles about Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson have appeared. Richardson’s Hispanic cultural background was featured in a January 22, 2007 article in El Pais which outlined the importance of the first Hispanic governor in the United States, Richardson’s capabilities as a skilled negotiator, and his childhood in Mexico. It is likely that the Richardson campaign will continue to be covered in the Spanish media with a positive spin due to his ability to speak Spanish and his appeal to the immigrant population in the United States. Spain has an increasingly large immigrant population from Latin America and looks to the United States to see how their treatment of immigrants varies from the Spanish methods. Spain offers universal health care, and immigrants are entitled to care with or without working papers, although there is a socio-economic divide between working immigrant populations and well established Spanish citizens, as occurs in most industrialized countries.
Interestingly, the Republican candidates have been covered far less than their Democratic counterparts. In two days, June 5 and 6, 2007 ABC and El Pais covered both the Republican candidates’ and Democratic candidates’ debates. A June 6, 2007 article in El Pais entitled “The Republican candidates criticize Bush for the Iraq War and immigration,” highlights and quotes Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain regarding their stance on immigration. The article outlines the differences between the United States’ management of immigration and that of Spain, emphasizing the difference in health care programs and the road to obtaining legal status. El Pais also covers the history of the Democratic candidates support or condemnation of the War in Iraq and ends with a quote from Hillary Clinton saying, “the differences between us are minor, the differences between us and the Republicans are enormous.” Due to party affiliation in Spain, ABC, the more conservative paper, does not quote the criticism of the current administration in the same manner, rather it acknowledges the dissention in the Republican party regarding the Iraq War and the positive outcomes of a change in the White House. Both papers do, however, give weight to the upcoming election as an indicator of change in the United States and in the global political climate.
The comprehensive coverage of the debates leading up to the 2008 American presidential election in the Spanish media signifies its importance to the Spanish people. All eyes are on the Americans, who hold in their hands the chance to change the worldview of the United States by electing an internationally conscious candidate regardless of political party affiliation.