Global news, local coverage: how the Basque press framed the horse meat crisis

Abstract

During the period January–April 2013, the Basque press covered what at first seemed to be only a local scandal sparked by the detection of horsemeat in processed food labelled in Great Britain and Ireland as containing only beef but quickly became an issue that implicated companies throughout Europe. The findings of this study show that Basque newspapers used interpretative reporting, opinion pieces and in-house journalism drawing heavily on “close” sources to frame this situation in terms of its potential economic and political impact in the Basque Country. The research reported in this article was carried out as part of a more extensive university-civil society research project focusing on media coverage of food safety issues.