Catalonia On The Brink
Welcome to the first edition of The SIFT, a weekly overview of the biggest stories by the team at Media Sifter. Each edition will follow the guiding principles that our platform is built around.
Since there are a multiverse of perspectives on any given topic, we advocate a form of media consumption, not based on censorship or filters, but rather on scrutinizing the details. We believe in providing as much evidence as possible for the reader to make up their own mind.
This week The SIFT focuses on events in Catalonia, where a referendum vote on independence, left the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union on the brink of declaring independence.
We analyzed mainstream media outlets including the New York Times, Al-Jazeera, BBC, and The Guardian, as well as an in-depth look at a view from Catalonia’s distant relatives in Scotland.
New York Times
Headline: Catalonia’s Independence Vote Descends Into Chaos and Clashes
In this article, the NYT seeks to state that while pro-independence and central authorities claimed respective victories, the only clear outcome is that both sides are more divided than before.
The referendum vote is described as “descending into chaos”, and as the “gravest test of democracy in Spain since Franco”. A video is prominently featured showing the violent actions of the Spanish police, it is captioned:
“ Hundreds of people were hurt as the Spanish police closed polling stations and seized ballot boxes during Catalonia’s independence vote on Sunday”
The stand-out interview is with Mr. Pulpillo, a wheel-chair bound man, who talks of Spain’s ugly past. His turnout to vote (and the turnout in general) is described as an “extraordinary show of determination”. The combination of Franco, graphic video and determined suffrage suggests that the NYT sees the Catalonians attempting to vote as the oppressed party.
Despite the article stating that “ slightly less than half” of Catalonia’s population are pro-independence, not a single pro-unionist public voice is featured. The share of voice provided to the political parties on either side is much more balanced, with 65 words are attributed to President Rajoy and his Vice President and 60 words (and an untranslated tweet) from the leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and the “left wing Mayor of Barcelona” Ada Colau, the only indication of political leanings in the piece.
Al-Jazeera
Headline: Catalonia vote: Social media mirrors street tension
In this round-up of social media tweets, posts and videos, the middle-eastern publication takes a far more nuanced stance on events in Catalonia. While they seem determined not to appear biased, through the use of media from both sides, the culmination of the article seems to suggest that they would like to highlight how events in Spain resemble elections in parts of the world that the Western press are often quick to criticize.
The language used is restrained throughout; tension in place of chaos or violence. Amazingly this is the only coverage we found that makes reference to the actual referendum question;
“Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?”
The reader is given the impression of balanced reporting, with official posts from both sides. We are presented a clearly pro-government video of a police officer helping a member of the public, published by Spain’s interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido. Then immediately a tweet from Raül Romeva i Rueda, the Catalan government’s minister of foreign affairs, showing the grizzly aftermath of police violence. This back and forth pattern continues with tweets and videos, while referencing the fact that the opinion polls (and indeed opinion) are split on the issue.
Interestingly the three contributions of private individuals plucked from social media all show police using significant force against civilians. Messages such as “Where is Democracy” are focused upon, striking and poignant slogans in an EU state perceived as democratic. We are told that a number of high-profile European politicians entered the fray. Tweets from Jeremy Corbyn, the UK opposition’s leader, Miro Cerar, the centrist Slovenian leader and Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel are all featured, without any mention of the missing voices.
The article ends with a tweet from the Human Right’s Watch. While the tweet itself is mild and does not offer a strong condemnation, the very fact that this type of tweet, normalized in the election coverage of so called undemocratic countries, is featured at all, comes across as a slight to the ‘democratic west’.
BBC
Headline: EU looks away as Catalan crisis unfolds
The BBC provides another perspective on matters, looking at the reaction of the EU states and leaders to the events in Catalonia. The article immediately launches into a series of rhetorical questions:
So where the cries of outrage? Where the statements of condemnation, the tweets of shock at the violence meted out on the voters of Catalonia at the hands of the Spanish police?
Comparisons are drawn to the flurry of messages that accompany the Brexit saga. Three reasons are given, with the third reason, the EUs staunch opposition to separatist movements in general, cited as the underlying reason for the comparative quiet.
The government in Madrid sees Catalan independence as a fundamental threat to the constitutional Spanish (…) And a European Union that gives daily lip service to the idea of breaking down the boundaries between its members looks silently away as one of its number uses state violence to protect the integrity of its borders.
The article seeks to persuade us that the idea of nationalism, despite the cries for supranational action, is on the rise and is manifest in the actions of both the Spanish and Catalan authorities. The silence from the EU is portrayed as nothing more than an act of self-preservation.
The Guardian
Headline: The Guardian view on Catalonia’s referendum: the Spanish state has lost
The sole overt, editorial piece on behalf of a publisher in this week’s SIFT. The headline is concise and transparent, presenting a position without resorting to sensationalism.
The lead image shows an impassioned woman, arms aloft, with an ambiguous look of desperation and/or defiance towards an unmoved police officer — a representative of the Spanish state. In the first paragraph we are given graphic details of the conduct of these officers:
“..dragging voters out by the hair or throwing them down stairs, firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds — even striking at Catalan firefighters and jostling with Catalan police.”
We are told that the immediate result of the “violence” was hundreds of casualties — the source is provided as Catalan authorities.
There is a relentless focus on President Rajoy’s handling of the situation, placing the blame squarely on his shoulders for the rise of the independence movement, the actions of the police and probable success of the secessionists. The article then deftly alludes to monarchic tendencies, representing the state, and by extension the President, as a reigning, sovereign entity, oppressing its citizens — the unnamed ‘many’;
“Who wants to be ruled by a state like this, many are asking.”
Towards the conclusion, more considered arguments are presented for the editorial line. The fact that public support for the referendum and independence peaked in 2013. Or that most people who supported the union would be unlikely to vote.
“Between them, the two sides have produced both a vote that is hugely contentious and a result that is meaningless.”
After more discussion of the heavy-handed police, the editorial follows the NYT, discussing the failure of both sides to secure a clear outcome. It then takes a page from the BBC’s James Landale pointing to the lack of condemnation from other EU members. The Guardian however seeks to explain this away as necessary to avoid “accusations of authoritarianism and complaints about the suppression of the Catalan will”.
“Mr Verhofstadt urged de-escalation, a negotiated solution bringing in all parties — including the opposition in Catalonia — and respect for Spain’s constitutional and legal order. He is right.”
After taking aim at Mr Rajoy for most of the article, interestingly The Guardian conclude by declaring Mr Puigdemont’s claims of victory “at best half true”. In contrast to the piece on the BBC, the only party to come away with any real credit here is the much maligned EU, and Mr Verhofstad.
The View From a Distant Cousin
Given events over the weekend, it’s hard not to think back to the 2014 referendum in Scotland. Catalonia and Scotland are often referred to as similar cases, distant cousins. Both forced into a larger union, they share complicated histories with their respective centralized authorities. Their similar-sized populations have also in recent times grown increasingly pro-independence.
Our featured analysis comes from The Scottish Sunday Herald, a newspaper that famously backed the “Yes” campaign, while its weekly edition backed the eventual winners “No”. This article by David Torrance caught our eye:
‘Today…they lost Catalonia’ say referendum organisers as police brutality sickens world
The sensationalist headline immediately suggests that the writer’s sympathies lie with the Catalonians, and indeed the article leads with a strongly pro-independence stance. Unionist voices are provided in the middle for balance, before a strong kicker wraps things up.
Given the amount of graphic images and video circulated, it is noteworthy that this article features a single image — a woman draped in the Spanish flag in the manner of a religious follower. This rather peaceful image is juxtaposed with the description of a scene in a school, where “referendum staff showed each other videos of police brutality at other polling stations”. Despite creating a sense of imminent threat, the democratic process witnessed by the writer is depicted as idyllic, — peaceful voting, beaming citizens and careful voting administration.
The quote featured in the headline ‘Today, they lost Catalonia’ is attributed to a member of the referendum staff. To clarify who they are, the writer reinforces that they are simply ‘Spain’. The writer, on the ground in Catalonia, compares the actions of the “lone Catalan policeman” benignly looking on, and his Spanish counterparts “firing rubber bullets into crowds and physically assaulting voters”. This creates a chasm like discrepancy between the two forces in terms of both temperament and force.
Mid-way into the story we have our first encounter with Spanish unionists, the other side of this referendum vote. This group of demonstrators are described as a large “silent-majority”, applying the term popularized by Nixon and recycled by Trump to label his supporters in the run up to the 2016 US election. We are told “Catalonia is split between ‘independistas’ and those who want to remain part of Spain”, however no numbers are provided.
A series of interviews follow. None of the interviewees are pro-independence, though the interviews may be noted for the fact that they do not feature a single Catalan respondent. We are presented a brief timeline of events, which provides 2010 as the genesis of the story. We are told at that time 15–20 per cent of people supported secession [unsourced]. The economic crisis and the response of the Madrid based government to referendum demands are cited as the major contributors to current events.
A further respondent tells us that he and his friends have switched allegiances, becoming supporters of independence due to “all this repression” before implying that “Catalanophobia” could be the cause of President Rajoy’s actions, seeking to appear strong rather than “too soft”.
The writer concludes sharply, suggesting that the illegality under law of the referendum vote bears no comparison with the actions of the Spanish government. He declares that it is the central authority in Madrid that has lost legitimacy with its actions. That the violence surrounding voting, which he describes as “the most peaceful of activities” is steering Catalonia towards independence.
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