Outburst and Trends in the Use of Home Videos in Spanish TV News during the Covid-19.

Abstract

The global pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus produced great changes in the uses of the world’s population, and especially in the media, particularly in the case of traditional TV. Convectional TV saw its production and information models altered. The measures taken by the different Governments, confining big cities, meant that TV channels had to obtain images to contextualize their news pieces in a different way. In this context, home videos became a fundamental part of the contents broadcasted by the different channels. This research analyzes the evolution of these videos before, during and after the lock-down in Spain in 2020. For this purpose, we have carried out a case study of the evening TV news programs of Televisión Española (Corporación RTVE) as a paradigm of public TV, and of Telecinco (Mediaset), as a leading example of private TV audience. The results obtained show how these domestic contents have been increasing their presence in the different news programs, not only during the months of lock-down, but also after the lock-down. Their presence has increased with respect to the use made of them before the Covid-19, until they have been fully admitted today as a valid content.