The (r)evolution of transsexuality in the news media: The case of the Spanish digital press (2000-2020)

Abstract

Media coverage of transsexuality has increased in different parts of the world. This increase reinforces its visibility, but it can also contribute to developing, reinforcing and legitimizing different attitudes, such as transphobia. In order to analyze the discursive patterns on transsexuality in the Spanish digital press during the period 2000-2020, this article has conducted a quantitative content analysis. Combining manual coding ( n = 1095) with rule-based text classification ( N = 9922), the media delegitimization to which transsexual people are subjected has been analyzed using logistic regression and multilevel analysis. The results confirm that the newsworthiness of transsexuality in Spain has increased significantly over the first two decades of the 21st century. They also indicate that the media delegitimization of transsexuality has been significantly reduced. These findings suggest a remarkable evolution in the news media coverage of transsexuality. However, improvements are still needed. Therefore, the need to continue training and sensitizing journalists is underlined.

Covering inclusion: Frames, themes, and voice in news about LGBTI topics

“…French-speaking media were not included in this study due to different legal and social contexts, and coders were fluent only in Dutch. Six newspapers were selected, with four Flemish newspapers that are considered ‘national’ due to their wide circulation ( De Morgen , De Standaard , Het Laatste Nieuws , and Het Nieuwsblad ) and two regional newspapers ( Gazet van Antwerpen , Het Belang van Limburg ), as scholars have called for more analysis of regional media (Billard, 2016; Olveira-Araujo, 2022). The search also included their sports sections and weekend magazines.…”

“…Even in times when social media have become more important in people’s daily lives, traditional news media are able to retain their discursive power (Langer and Gruber, 2021). It is not surprising, then, that the body of research investigating LGBTI coverage in mainstream news has grown in recent years, mainly drawing on discourse or content analysis (Billard, 2016; Kerrigan and Pramaggiore, 2021; Olveira-Araujo, 2022). Coverage of LGBTI topics has increased ever since the 1980s, when the AIDS pandemic began (Åkerlund, 2019; Jacobs and Meeusen, 2020; van Den Berg and Marinus, 2017).…”