The present article analyzes press coverage on the Spanish Queen Sofía of Greece during a time when an outburst of scandals involving different members of the Spanish Royal Family took place. Its main ob jective is to display changes in the media treatment of the royal spouse caused by these scandals. Research for this article principally involved using content analysis and semiotics to examine coverage on the Queen between 2012 and 2014 in two newspapers, El País and El Mundo. Documentary research and in depth interviews were also used. Paradoxically, findings indicate that when the media most heavily crit icized the Crown, the Queen's image improved.

Profound changes in media and political communication contributed to granting private life greater importance in political reporting. Not only did media shift their attention from parties to politicians, they also took an interest in the politicians' entourage. The first lady, as the wife of the supposedly most powerful man in the country, became an object of public attention. Her ability to comply with social demands became of capital importance for the good image of her husband. Over the course of the last century, and despite an ambiguous media towards her political empowerment, the first lady has managed to emancipate herself as a new actor on the public stage.This article studies the way in which the media became a key player in the creation, empowerment and definition of modern first ladyship in selected democratic countries: Poland, France and Spain. It does this through a mixed-methods approach: qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the press and extensive documentary research in the fields of political science, media and gender studies, political communication and first ladyship studies. The research finds that the press normalizes the presence of first ladies on the public stage and shapes public expectations toward spouses of heads of state.Keywords: media influence, first lady, gendered frame, women's empowerment, politics. Los profundos cambios experimentados por los medios de comunicación y la comunicación política han contribuido a conceder a la vida privada una importancia mayor en la cobertura política. Los medios han cambiado el foco desde los partidos hacia los políticos y sus familias. Así, la primera dama, en tanto que esposa del que se supone el hombre más poderoso del país, se ha convertido en un objeto de escrutinio público. Su habilidad para dar respuesta a las demandas sociales se erige en un elemento de importancia capital para la buena imagen de su marido. A lo largo del siglo pasado, y a pesar de una cobertura mediática ambigua, la primera dama ha logrado emanciparse y erigirse en un nuevo actor en la escena pública.El presente artículo estudia cómo se han convertido los medios de comunicación en un actor clave en la creación, empoderamiento y definición de la figura moderna de la primera dama en una selección de países democráticos: Polonia, Francia y España. La aproximación metodológica es de carácter mixto: el análisis de contenido cualitativo y cuantitativo de la prensa y una investigación documental extensiva en los campos de la ciencia política, el periodismo, los estudios de género, la comunicación política y los estudios sobre la institución de la primera dama. La investigación concluye que la prensa normaliza la presencia de las primeras damas en la esfera pública e influencia las expectativas que tiene el público respecto a las esposas de los jefes de Estado.Palabras clave: influencia mediática, primera dama, marco de género, empoderamiento de las mujeres, política.

ABSTRACT:The article analyses framing of Queen Sofia by the Spanish gossip press as an embodiment of the traditionalist model of womanhood existing in Spain. The grandmother and wife rather than an independent and professionally accomplished woman. Moreover, she is described as a strongly emotional woman, worshipping her family, whose public actions are motivated more by a feeling of obligation toward her family and the country than by a will of having a professional career.

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