On Tuesday, 2,922,000 viewers watched Pedro Sánchez answer questions from some ant-shaped puppets. On Wednesday, 3,079,000 viewers listened to the advice Julio Iglesias gave to Alberto Núñez Feijóo for his interview with Pablo Motos. On Thursday, 1,298,000 viewers watched the answers given by Yolanda Díaz to showman El Gran Wyoming. The candidates for the next general election have entered the arena of prime-time television with the aim of conquering spaces beyond those traditionally reserved for politics.
The candidates’ leap into television entertainment is not a new phenomenon in Spain. In recent election campaigns, it has been common to see politicians at Bertín Osborne’s home being interviewed by children in the presence of Ana Rosa Quintana, or changing diapers and throwing baskets in El Hormiguero. “It’s a phenomenon that emerged in the US in the late 1980s and took a while to import to Europe, and that’s what we know as infotainment,” explains Óscar Álvarez, President of the Political Communication Association. “Theoretically, these are shows that reach an audience that is more disinterested in politics and allow politicians to reach an audience they cannot find through other communication channels and to network in a looser way, which helps to see the person behind the position,” adds the expert, who warns of the danger that these formats downplay important issues. “In my professional opinion, resorting to these looser formats is positive, but what matters is the politician’s ability to properly explain the most serious issues.”
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In the upcoming election campaign and especially in the days leading up to it, politicians’ agendas are filled with television events. Pedro Piqueras will interview the four main candidates for the presidency on Telecinco’s evening news next week. It is currently confirmed that Ana Rosa Quintana will also have Sánchez, Feijóo and Yolanda Díaz on her set on different days. A face-to-face duel between Sánchez and Feijóo will be broadcast on Atresmedia on July 10th.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in “El hormiguero” on Wednesday, June 28.TAREK/PP
“Television has a major impact on political outcomes and on the acceptance or rejection of public policies,” argues sociologist and political scientist Roberto Barbeito. “Citizens who are exposed to television are greatly influenced by it. There is a decreasing proportion of the population that remains heavily exposed to television, which is also generally the population that votes the most in elections. The influence of television not only determines the direction of voting, but also mobilizes and favors whether people vote or not,” he adds. In addition, according to the expert, these programs are not only seen by the direct audience, but also distributed in fragmented form on social networks and are an essential content of the information accessed by users who access browsers and Internet browsers, and their distribution also expands other viewers away from television. “It’s not by not watching TV that you avoid the impact that TV content can have,” Barbeito points out.
Gema Sánchez Medero, Professor of Political Science and Administration at the Complutense University of Madrid, agrees: “Politicians have recognized that there is significant political discontent in society. People who are interested in politics will consume them everywhere, but those who are not interested will not go to places where they can find out about it. The most watched and in demand, far away from politics, are these entertainment programs, with which you can reach people who are disgusted by the political sphere.” And he adds: “This is how politics is humanized, and that’s why it’s a trend that’s catching on has.”
In this election campaign, Sánchez has taken the lead in terms of his presence in these formats, with a clear change compared to the last elections. “It’s a change in their strategy. It has a larger presence, especially in media that isn’t as related. He needs a bigger presence to try to reclaim what he feels is part of his lost voice or the uneasiness of the citizens. Government wear and tear is taking its toll. Meanwhile, Feijóo has more reassured visibility because the PP believes that overexposure can be more harmful than beneficial, believing that they are ahead and any failure can detract more than it adds,” analyzes Sánchez Medero.
Pablo Motos and Pedro Sánchez, in “El hormiguero” on Tuesday 27th June. Carlos Lopez Alvarez
For Barbeito, opposition to the debates of some and the discrediting of others has led politicians to focus more on entertainment formats in this campaign: “These programs favor the delivery of messages and emotional attitudes more than political argument.” In the case of the government, it develops one Strategy to reach out to citizens, particularly in hostile media, by delivering essential messages and providing them with relief from the bitterness they may be facing.”
crowd pullers
With the conquest of entertainment by politics, not only politicians win, but also programs. On the one hand, they gain an audience. Many of El Hormiguero’s most watched programs have been interviews with politicians. The break achieved his most-watched program of the season with the visit of Pedro Sánchez. The Évole thing reached almost 1.5 million viewers last Sunday with the interview with the governor. “Furthermore, these programs are gaining publicity and resonance because the interviews are widely shared in other media, networks and search engines… And they are gaining influence because they become indispensable sites for political and electoral campaigning.” In this context of media democracy or In what other sociologists like Enrique Gil Calvo call market democracy, the media are active actors who interpret or reinterpret the political situation and help set the agenda. You are a political actor yourself,” argues Barbeito.
The Great Wyoming and Yolanda Díaz, on Thursday 29th in “El intermedio”.
“The curiosity to know the person behind public office, and the politician’s need to satisfy that curiosity and socialize, represent the interests of the media and politicians,” says Óscar Álvarez. “We have programs like MasterChef Celebrity that led to Celia Villalobos. “Politicians, as public figures, enjoy that aura of curiosity to see how they perform in areas outside of politics,” he adds.
In settings that are more politics-friendly, more controlled, and closer to a public that would otherwise not have access to their embassies, the candidates, dressed more informally, even with denim shirts and rainbow bracelets, go down several steps to get closer to voters. “I’ve always defended that politics is felt, that it has more to do with emotion than reason,” says the president of the Political Communication Association. “Elections are won by the party or candidate that most closely resembles the citizenry they want to govern at any given time. “People are more willing to believe, listen and vote for those who are closest to our way of understanding the world,” he concludes.
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