Framing Catalonia: The coverage of the Catalan secession movement in the German and British press

In October 2017, years of discontent with the Spanish central government erupted in a Catalan wish for secession that was followed by a regional referendum for seceding from Spain. Shortly after announcing the referendum, it was declared illegal by the central government in Madrid, thereupon provoking a clash between the secessionists and the central government. The EU decided not to intervene in the issue and treated it as an “internal matter” of Spain. Nevertheless, the issue was extensively covered in European media, thereby employing certain news frames. This comparative study looks into the framing practices that were used by German and British newspapers in their coverage of the Catalan secession between September 2017 to October 2019. As Germany and the United Kingdom traditionally have different opinions on the functioning of the EU, this study seeks to compare the media’s agendasetting by analysing framing practices in both countries. Therefore, this study seeks to answer the research questions “to what extent are generic news frames about the Catalan independence movement present in German and British newspapers?” and “how does news framing around the Catalan secession differ in German newspapers when compared to British newspapers?”. To answer these questions, this study employs a mixed-method approach, thereby combining deductive quantitative content analysis followed by inductive qualitative content analysis. The findings of this study confirm previous theories on European framing. Whereas British newspapers focussed more on conflict-oriented coverage, German newspapers employed a more moderate approach in which displaying different scenarios took a central role. Moreover, German newspapers used a more negative tone to approach Catalan secession as compared to British newspapers. Also, the study found inaccuracies in the British coverage of the Catalan conflict in which there was a unilateral contribution of the data that only related to one of the two sides involved in the conflict. More than their German counterparts, British newspapers made frequent use of the human-interest frame to condemn the actions of the Spanish state. Lastly, whereas British media presented a uniform set of opinions as being factual, German media more frequently quoted primary sources and provided a wider variety of perspectives on the issue.