For the definition of the news spectacle, the authors
have designed a quantitative and qualitative methodology
which permits the application of a series of theoretical
instruments to any television news report to determine
if this news has been turned into spectacle or not.
Field work was carried out on the specific story of the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann, elaborating a
theoretical corpus and using a series of tools of analysis
to arrive at the conclusion that, in this specific case, elements of spectacle have been used in the news and elements of news in entertainment as a strategy of television programming, both daily and otherwise, in the
television channels’ fight for audience.
KEY WORDS: spectacle; news; television; childhood.
PALABRAS CLAVE: espectáculo; información; televisión;
infancia
