Spanish Quality Press Coverage of the Pandemic Issue in Russia

Abstract

The author analyses the features of media coverage of the new coronavirus infection (Covid-19) in Russia based on the material published from March 1, 2020, to May 15, 2020, in the Spanish high-quality press – daily social-political newspapers El País, El Mundo, and ABC. These papers are most read and influential in the modern media space not only in Spain but in the international market, and in particular in Latin America. The main goal of the study is to show how the image of Russia in the international media space affects the presentation of the pandemic in Russia in Spanish mass media. The author also studies the “quality press” concept and analyses this through the prism of Russian and foreign approaches. The analysis of the publications (152 articles), selected using the keywords “Russia”, “Moscow”, “Putin”, “Covid-19”, showed that some newspapers, being of high-quality and most read, do not reflect the pandemic situation in Russia widely (El País), or represent the sanitary situation in Russia partly and in the context of the domestic politics focused on the figure of the President (El Mundo). Another newspaper ABC corresponds to all the requirements for the status of quality press and covers the current situation of the pandemic in Russia objectively; 75 materials published during the analysed period draw the readers’ attention to the situation with the pandemic and not on the political situation in Russia.