The Penetration of Sensationalism in the Quality Spanish Press. McCann Case in Newspapers "El País", "El Mundo" and "ABC"

Abstract

The article begins with the traditional distinction between serious journalism and sensationalist journalism in order to analyze how the line between both ways of doing journalism has become blurred at present. In order to show this mixing the article develops a case analysis: the coverage of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in three main Spanish newspapers of general information: El País, El Mundo y ABC. The study identifies the aspects of thematic selection, disposition and content to verify if newspapers have moved away from the parameters of quality journalism and slipped towards a sensationalistic information.