Terrorism and Politics Predominate on the Front Pages of the Basque Press. Content and Area Analysis of the Front Pages of the Regional Newspapers

Abstract

This paper offers the results of research project 08/20 of the University of the Basque Country on the news published on the front pages of the Basque press during the years 1996, 2001 and 2006. The researchers analyse the front pages of the Basque press to determine if their content matches the demand and interests of their readers. The study shows what are the most relevant topics for these newspapers. The research involved a detailed analysis of 2,448 front pages of the five main Basque newspapers, with a total of 19,156 news items. A specific methodology was developed for this work, enabling both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the news stories to be made. The data shown in this paper are a summary of the more detailed results that emerged in the different fields of the research.