Is Manuela Carmena a politician? Spanish journalists and politicians in the spotlight

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to better understand how the participants involved in a specific radio interview use categorization to (re)produce a dominant discourse in the Spanish political arena. In this discourse, politicians are seen as untrustworthy, and certain journalists are portrayed as serving specific political interests. The interview needs to be analysed within its sociopolitical context. The wider context is one in which two new political parties claim to represent a new way of doing politics: old politics is described as opaque and untrustworthy, and they want to create a politics of renewal. The more specific context is the reason behind the interview. It occurs right after the publication of a book of interviews by Maruja Torres, the interviewee, with Manuela Carmena. Manuela is the current mayor of Madrid and an important figure in one of the new parties mentioned above. But most importantly, the interview takes place after several Spanish newspapers focused on a specific statement in the book, in which the mayor admits she feels overwhelmed and tired. This article aims to show the categorial and positioning mechanisms employed by the participants in the interview to co-construct a given discourse regarding the various social actors involved in contemporary Spanish politics. Spanish politics is not just made up of big events; it is also the accumulation of small affairs like this one. When people read these newspaper articles or listen to a radio interview, they must position themselves in relation to the small event, and it is the sum of these stances that configure people’s political beliefs.