Discipline and punish: the role of the military, police and civil guards in communicating the Covid-19 crisis in Spain

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of the Spanish Army and Security Forces as actors and as a discursive resource in the Spanish Government´s communication during the Covid-19 crisis and covers two complementary questions. On one hand, the presence of the military, police and civil guards in the media and in the daily press conferences of the Spanish Government´s Coronavirus Crisis Committee and, on the other, tweets by the main political protagonists of the crisis in Spain: the leaders of the five largest national parties (PSOE, PP, Vox, Unidas Podemos and Ciudadanos) and the presidents of four autonomous communities (Catalonia, Madrid, the Valencian Community and the Basque Country) who also played a particularly important role in managing the crisis. The timeframe covered is from March 15 (start of the state of emergency) to April 25 (final day in which the military and security forces participated in the daily press conferences of the Coronavirus Crisis Committee). The methodology applied involves a qualitative analysis of the appearances by military and security forces in the media and in the press conferences of the aforementioned Committee, which allows us to outline a complex narrative of the events. A content analysis of the Twitter accounts is also performed to show the presence of these groups and the warlike language in their messages. The objectives are to balance the Government´s communication strategy in relation to the presence of the military, the Civil Guard and the National Police: internally (at press conferences) and externally (in the media and, in particular, in speeches by political leaders).