La construcción de la polarización en la prensa española: estudio longitudinal sobre los encuadres de sus dimensiones política, afectiva y social

Polarization has evolved from being merely a concept used in Social Sciences to define a political phenomenon to becoming a significant social concern in Spain. Consequently, it is imperative to study how the Spanish reference press defines this problem, considering that journalism is a fundamental agent in creating and disseminating frames of reality that shape public opinion. This study analyzes mentions of polarization in ABC, El Mundo, and El País between 2016—the year Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election and Brexit occurred—and 2024, using a predominantly qualitative content analysis, assisted by Artificial Intelligence. The results demonstrate that references to political polarization are used to frame a problem present primarily in Spain and the United States, but also in large parts of America and Europe. However, its meaning oscillates between polarization understood as affective—which activates negative emotions towards opposing groups— and the existence of a tense political climate. According to the analyzed press, the main inducers of this phenomenon are political elites and parties.