Ideological Battle in Spain’s Television Access Prime Time: Analysis of El Hormiguero and La Revuelta Representations

This study examines how ideological polarisation in Spanish society is reflected and amplified in press coverage of the competition between El Hormiguero (Antena3) and La Revuelta (TVE) in the access prime time television slot. Situated within debates on audience fragmentation, the attention economy, and the politicisation of entertainment, the research seeks to determine whether media ideology shapes journalistic narratives surrounding this television rivalry. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. A total of 385 news articles published between April 2024 and March 2025 in five leading Spanish digital newspapers with different ideological orientations (20 Minutos, ABC, El HuffPost, El Mundo and El País) were analysed. The results reveal clear ideological patterns in coverage, affecting the intensity of attention, the selection of sources, and the framing of both programmes. El Hormiguero is predominantly associated with leadership and competitive strength, while La Revuelta is framed around innovation, youth appeal, and politicisation linked to public broadcasting. Overall, the findings indicate that Spanish newspapers do not merely report on a television competition but actively contribute to its symbolic and ideological polarisation, reinforcing entertainment as a central arena of contemporary cultural conflict.