Impact and treatment of Banksy's art actions in the Spanish press

Abstract

Introduction: This paper analyzes the impact of the contents about Banksy in the four main Spanish newspapers. The aim is to detect the treatment that the press makes about this figure and determine if these newspapers publish content in the same proportion, which is the main theme, what are the graphic resources they use, if there are evaluative connotations, etc. Methodology: Some of the hypotheses suggest that Banksy manages to put the media focus on the cause that his actions vindicate and that the more conservative newspapers are more critical and limit the space dedicated to him. All the publications that contain the word Banksy have been analyzed with a sheet elaborated ad hoc for this study. A total of 2248 items have been recorded, out of 221 pieces analyzed. Results: The ABC newspaper is where the negative evaluative connotations emerges to a greater extent, but also the one that offers the most space to Banksy or his work, followed by El País. The case claimed by Banksy is barely covered by all the newspapers, being null in the case of El Mundo. Conclusions: It is verified that a conservative newspaper such as ABC does not necessarily limit its space to this type of content. In general, the figure of Banksy and his actions, highly adjectived in all the newspapers, take center stage against the cause that he vindicates. The iconic nature of the Banksy concept, used often by newspapers as a brand, can be confirmed.