Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

In the early nineties, Spanish television fiction began an unprecedented evolution. The aim of this research is to examine, through a content analysis, the defining features of the genre that led this evolution: comedy. The study includes all the comic fiction of Spanish production released between 1990 and 2018 (180 productions on State networks) and analyses it based on its narrative and stylistic characteristics. The results show that, after a brief period of faithful adaptation to the sitcom, the Spanish television comedy began to develop its own identity. Although it retains some of the defining features of the North American canonical reference, such as stereotypical characters, interior settings and the setting in the contemporary world, it has ignored others, like the average duration of 22 to 24 minutes, the introduction of live or prerecorded laughter and the exclusively episodic structure. In addition, the genre, in its Spanish form, has incorporated new features, such as the shift from the comic to the dramatic, the expansion of the number of plots and main characters, and the introduction of continuity plots and other elements of serialization. Likewise, the Spanish television comedy has integrated an important part of the national theater and film tradition.

This paper seeks to explain how the determinants of newsmaking could influence the journalistic quality. To do this, the study is based on 120 semi-structured interviews with Chilean, Ecuadorian and Mexican journalists. The results show that routines are the determining factor for a quality journalism in our current media ecosystem. At the same time, we could verify the link between the different determinants of newsmaking and the professional praxis. All the above from a Latin American perspective, which is completed with the local point of view and contexts of the journalists interviewed.  

Between 2000 and 2017, the advertising public funds of the Argentine government multiplied almost eight times, from 23 to 182 million dollars a year, despite the retraction of the national economy. The resources –2594 million dollars in the entire period– had growth peaks in election years. This seems to confirm the electoral usufruct of government advertising, as some authors and the dissemination works commissioned by civil society entities on this subject warned. This work, based on data from official sources, determined the total volume of public funds destined for that purpose, analyzed previous reports to understand their social and political impact, and reviewed the state of the art on this subject.  

This paper analyzes how Twitter was used by the five official accounts of the Autonomous Communities with the largest number of followers of the Partido Popular and Podemos during the electoral campaign for the 2016 general elections. Based on the content analysis methodology, 1.845 tweets were analyzed. The results obtained confirm the use of Twitter as a unidirectional tool, without establishing a fluid dialogue between parties and voters. Twitter is used to disseminate information and promote aspects of the electoral campaign.

If correctly done, presidential debates can be considered as mediated deliberation events, with a rich knowledge base for citizens to learn and model their behavior. Nonetheless, they could adopt a media logic, unfolding elements of conflict, simplification and incivility that are salient in media discourse nowadays. To explore if such logic has penetrated this format, we conducted a content analysis on the three presidential debates of the 2018 Mexican campaign (N = 556 units), using variables that operationalize the values of deliberation. We found that, in general, debates performed with civility and were centered in public policy issues, but there was simplification and poor argumentation. Thus, while we cannot conclude that debates are colonized by a media logic, they do not function completely as deliberative events either.

Based on a synchronic method, this article shows the preliminary results of an ongoing research about the political imagination deployed by the ruling Argentine coalition, Cambiemos (2015-2018). We exhaustively take into consideration the (audio)visual pieces of its political communication. Then, we identify regularities to organize a grammar of political imagination around multiple medium and short-term goals. The conclusions allow to understand how the political communication of Cambiemos works in an original way with the new media landscape, marked by the culture of connectivity and the coexistence of different media systems (old & new).  

Insecurity is one of the issues of greatest concern for Argentine citizens and one of the most included in the media agenda. This study aims to analyze the media treatment on this issue in electoral and non-electoral contexts. Through a content analysis on three national mainstream newspapers, we concluded that the 2015 presidential elections did not increase the frequency of crime pieces, although a relevant change was observed in the topics covered and the frames used on them. Finally, official sources predominated in coverage.

The aim of this paper is to characterize Cuba’s country image through the spots broadcasted by Cubavisión Internacional. For the development of the analysis categories, we used the content analysis method. The results of the investigation show that, in the advertising spots analyzed, Cuba’s country image is poorly represented, based on stereotyped advertising themes and signs, as well as unrepresentative topics of the nation. Advertising signs are used to refer features of the Cuban population and promote tourism, hospitality and consumption of national products.

This paper explores how the television series Hannibal (NBC, 2013-2015) conveys a deep aesthetic delectation, despite presenting numerous repulsive or uncomfortable scenes. The article analyzes how the very serial nature of TV fiction enables a specific way of negotiating the paradox of aversion through three textual strategies: a protracted character engagement, a suspense that articulates the aesthetic possibilities of “temporal prolongation,” and a beautiful mise-en-scène for abhorrent visual motives and actions. These three strategies generate an intense fascination in the spectator, allowing to subvert the features of the repugnant.

This research focuses on analysing how changes in cinematography since the advent of digital cinema have led to new forms of reception and appreciation of works of art by young people. To achieve this, a mixed methods analysis was used, which consisted of closed structured surveys and semi-structured interviews with those responsible for movie theatres in Quito. The results show that young people watch a considerable number of films, mostly of Hollywood origin, alone and at home. This indicates that young people are more focused on entertainment than on the cultural value of cinema, and they show a poor appreciation and identification with national cinema.