Use of Political Concepts in the ABC Journal during the Democratic Transition (1977-1978)

Abstract

The present issue deals with the use of political concepts in the newspaper ABC during the Spanish democratic transition in the years 1977 and 1978. The evolution of meanings is analyzed through the newspaper editorials of the following terms: Monarchy, nation, reconciliation, amnesty, reform and rupture. The evolution of meanings in these concepts promoted the configuration of new political cultures in the Spanish transition. The press functioned as an intermediary between political groups and citizens to disseminate the struggle to define the semantic content that was intended to be translated into those terms. ABC was no stranger to this trend. The constitutionalconsensus could be analyzed from this perspective, interrelating the political concepts with their use by the media. The result is an evolution of meanings in order to initiate a democratic process after the dictatorship.