Widening the North/South Divide? Representations of the role of the EU during the Covid-19 crisis in Spanish media

Abstract

In this article we study the discursive construction of the EU managerial role in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in four Spanish newspapers: two published in mainland Spain – El Mundo and El País – and two published in Catalonia – La Vanguardia and ARA. By doing a qualitative study of newspapers, this article aims to identify which discourse strategies are used when informing about the actions and decisions taken in European political and economic fora. The analysis identifies the three main generic frames which are used in news pieces: morality (mostly as a call for solidarity), economic (mostly as preventing possible harm), and conflict (focused on divide(s) within (EU)rope). The activation of these frames in the news pieces contribute to an implicit legitimation of the existence of (EU)rope as based on two core values – solidarity and cooperation – together with a delegitimation of the actions performed by some European institutions.