The role of communication in Catalonia’s nation building: Jordi Pujol and the political instrumentalization of the media (1968-‍1989)

Abstract

From the beginning of his political activity under the Franco regime and during the 23 years of his presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Jordi Pujol showed a great interest to intervene in the media. This article aims to describe and interpret the actions carried out by Pujol to create and/or control the media in order to help them achieve their political objectives during his anti-Francoist opposition activities and his first two legislatures as president of the Generalitat. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative research strategy was designed. It combines theoretical foundations of political science and communication sciences and triangulates the techniques of documentary analysis (legal framework, gray literature, monographs and scientific articles, and memoirs) and in-depth interviews with the protagonists of the actions analyzed, including Jordi Pujol himself. The result is an original research that sheds light on the relations between political movements and the media during the Spanish transition, a foundational moment in Spanish politics. The article shows a clear interventionist will of Pujol on the media, considered by him as infiltrated by leftist parties and hostile to Catalan nationalism. He always had an instrumental conception of journalism, both for the promotion of his party and political ideas and in the process of national (re)construction of Catalonia (a project that he shared with other parties). According to the results obtained, Pujol made the creation of mass media a fundamental objective of his political action.