Sant Jordi Festival at the Vanguardia newspaper

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the Spanish press coverage of Sant Jordi Festival, linked to the patron saint of Catalonia. This festival is held every year on April 23rd, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. For that, the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, edition of April 23rd, 2017, was studied. It is a tabloid established in 1881 with about 50 pages per edition, and two daily editions, in Catalan and in Castilian. It has an average circulation of 220.000 copies. The analysis showed the great importance and magnitude of the popular festival, either by the number of pages of the issue analyzed - more than 100 - or by the fact that it was the central theme of the newspaper on that day. What we seek with this theoretical reflection is to understand the meaning of Sant Jordi Festival from its media representation. When comparing this publication with authors who study the press, it can be perceived that there is a consensus that Sant Jordi Festival is a Catalan cultural landmark.

Keywords
Press; Sant Jordi Festival; La Vanguardia; book

Resumo

O objetivo deste artigo é fazer uma análise da cobertura da imprensa espanhola da Festa de Sant Jordi, santo padroeiro da Catalunha, que é realizada todos os anos no dia 23 de abril em Barcelona. Para isso foi escolhida a edição de 23 de abril de 2017 do jornal espanhol La Vanguardia como estudo de caso, periódico catalão fundado em 1881. É um tablóide, com cerca de 50 páginas, com duas edições diárias, em catalão e em castelhano, com tiragem média de 220 mil exemplares. No estudo da edição foi possível perceber a dimensão da festa popular, seja pelo número de páginas – mais de 100 – como pelo fato de ela ser o tema central do jornal. O que buscamos com essa reflexão teórica é entender o significado da Festa de Sant Jordi a partir de sua representação midiática. Ao analisarmos as páginas do periódico a partir de autores que estudam a imprensa escrita, concluímos que existe um consenso na construção da festa como um marco cultural catalão.

Palavras-chave
Imprensa; Festa de Sant Jordi; La Vanguardia; livro

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es hacer un análisis de la cobertura de la prensa española de la Fiesta de Sant Jordi, santo patrono de Cataluña, que se celebra todos los años el 23 de abril en Barcelona. Para eso fue elegida la edición del 23 de abril de 2017 del diario español La Vanguardia como estudio de caso, periódico catalán fundado en 1881. Es un tabloide, con cerca de 50 páginas, con dos ediciones diarias, en catalán y en castellano, con tirada un promedio de 220 mil ejemplares. En el estudio de la edición fue posible percibir la dimensión de la fiesta popular, sea por el número de páginas - más de 100 - como por el hecho de que ella es el tema central del periódico. Lo que buscamos con esta reflexión teórica es entender el significado de la Fiesta de Sant Jordi a partir de su representación mediática. Al analizar las páginas del periódico a partir de autores que estudian la prensa escrita concluimos que existe un consenso en la construcción de la fiesta como un marco cultural catalán.

Palabras clave
Prensa; Fiesta de San Jordi; La Vanguardia; libro

Introduction

Our objective with this article is to present the coverage of the Sant Jordi Festival by the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia on April 23, 2017. This Catalan newspaper was founded in 1881 and continues in action in the XXI century, producing two daily editions: one in Castilian and the other one in Catalan, with an average circulation of 220 thousand copies. It is a tabloid newspaper with about 50 pages. For this study, we did a detailed analysis of the newspaper - its texts, images and advertisements - and we collected ethnographic data about the Festival and its symbolic meaning for the city of Barcelona.

Spain was the first country to create the “book festival”. The initiative was led by writer and editor Vicent Clavel, director of the publishing house Cervantes, who convinced the Catalan Book Chamber to promote a day dedicated to books. In 1926, at the request of the Chamber, King Alfonso XIII signed the decree that made Oct. 7 the “Book Day”, chosen as the date of the birth of Miguel de Cervantes. Four years later, in 1931, at the request of the booksellers, the date began to be celebrated on April 23, the day Cervantes and Shakespeare died. Since then, the Sant Jordi Festival has become a Catalan tradition.

The “Book Day” gained a more popular character from 1931 on, because together on the same day are the celebration of the patron of Catalonia - Saint George - and the Rose Festival, organized by the Government since the Middle Ages. A movement of publishers and booksellers that stimulate the population to go to the street and to buy books is structured. Over time, all the municipalities of Catalonia had a rose and book festival on Sant Jordi day. Today, there are 948 between “pueblos” and cities of Catalonia that celebrate the Sant Jordi Festival (PRAT, 1982).

UNESCO is the key organization in the appreciation of the book because it was its General Conference, held in Paris on November 15, 1995, which decreed the book as the most important instrument in the dissemination of knowledge and all initiatives to promote its diffusion have passed to be seen as a factor of cultural enrichment. One of the most effective ways to promote it would be to celebrate “The International Book Day” each year. As until then, this date had not been adopted at an international level, April 23 was declared “World Book and Copyright Day”.

Regarding the Sant Jordi Festival in Barcelona, it is interesting to note that April 23 is not a holiday in the city but a normal work day. In 2017, it was different because Sant Jordi’s day fell on a Sunday, which expanded the size of the festival and the public that circulated throughout the city during the occasion. Perhaps this fact is important to consider in the analysis of the La Vanguardia edition of the periodical with its more than 100 pages. In the years before 2017, the newspaper did not dedicate so much space to the festival, although it was present on the front page and quite prominently. We can note that the event has grown in importance in recent years in many aspects. The Festival gained international visibility, began to occupy more areas of the city - not only the central part of Barcelona -, as well as the presence of writers, including foreigners, and it had its agenda of lectures and launches expanded. We seek, in this analysis, to discuss in what measure the construction of the 2017 edition not only emphasizes the consensus regarding the importance of the festival but also reinforces the idea of unanimity, as we will see later.

In 2017, the Sant Jordi Festival applied to be part of the Convention to safeguard the Intangible Heritage. The UNESCO program aims to protect cultural diversity in the face of globalization so that this heritage is passed on to future generations. The application presented to UNESCO took place on April 21, 2017 under the title “Sant Jordi in Catalonia, the rose and book festival” (Our translation). It was attended by the Book Chamber of Catalonia - an institution that brings together publishers, booksellers, distributors and professionals of graphic arts of Catalonia - and the Guild of Florists of Catalonia.

The book and the reading in Spain

Spain has a strong publishing industry that published in 2016 more than 80 thousand titles, according to data of the ISBN Agency. According to the Spanish Association of Publishers’ Guilds, children’s, juvenile and didactic books represent 22,8% of all edited books. Madrid and Barcelona are the two cities with the largest presence of publishers: last year the capital of the country published 27.223 titles and the Catalan city 23.538. The Spanish publishing industry annually moves around three million euros and employs directly and indirectly around 30 thousand people in the 840 publishers that are part of the Spanish Association of Publishers’ Guilds, According to Hábitos de Lectura 2012 research held in Spain by the aforementioned association, with the collaboration of the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries of the Ministry of Culture, 92% of the entire population over 14 years are readers because they said they have read at least one book in the last quarter. And in the country, the presence of the libraries is much disseminated and they are frequented by 30% of the population that reads mainly at home.

Spain has increased its reading indexes as evidenced by the editions of the Habits of Reading and Purchase of Books in Spain research (HÁBITOS..., 2017). In 2017, according to this study, 95% of the Spanish population over the age of 14 read some text in any type of material, format or support in the trimester. In the survey conducted in 2012, the numbers were 3% lower. Therefore the country considers itself a reading nation. It is a country of many languages. With only 505 thousand square kilometers, Spain has Spanish or Castilian as its official language and five co-official languages: Basque, Galician, Valencian, Mallorquin and Catalan. During General Francisco Franco’s government, which lasted from 1939 to 1975, the Catalan language, as well as the other minority languages, was banished. Only after the end of the Franco dictatorship and with the re-democratization, Catalonia returned to freely speak Catalan. It has regained its place as the first language in the region, dominating politics, schools and the media, which has generated a bilingual publishing market.

The bookstores of Barcelona have works in Castilian and Catalan. Not all in both languages. Great Catalan authors are published in Castilian as well as reference books and nonfiction works. But the entrance of bookstores and their window displays are usually occupied by books in the Catalan language, even international bestsellers and classic literature books. All this data becomes visible on a stroll through the city on the day of Sant Jordi. At the festival of 2016, more than 1.580.000 copies of 45.267 titles were sold and 54% of these were in Catalan.

The Sant Jordi Festival in 2013

In 2013, when conducting a postdoctoral research on reading among teenagers from Barcelona and living in the city during the year, we were able to closely follow this festival and make a brief field diary, with participant observation and some interviews, briefly presented in this article and which are also the basis for a comparative analysis of the festival and its disclosure and coverage in 2017.

Preparations for the festival start well before the day. The city is adorned with posters of the City Hall by all neighborhoods, although the greater movement concentrates in the Ramblas, the Passeig de Gràcia and Rambla Catalunya. Tents are set up on the sidewalks for the sale of books and red roses. There are shelves of bookstores and also associations, unions and schools, as well as small tables of illustrators selling their books and bookmarkers with the rose and the saint, for example. There are numerous tents of collectives, unions, schools, associations of the most diverse, from religious groups to associations with different ends such as relatives of people with Alzheimer’s. It is the solidarity and multicultural aspect of the Diada¹ - a very special day - which sale of books and roses is destined for social entities such as the Caritas Diocesana Refugee Assistance Program, for example. These data help to address the civic aspect of this date.

In general, schools prepare for the date with countless activities related to the book, literature and the honored writer of the year. In 2013, it was the Salvador Spriu (1913-1985) year. In honor of the Catalan poet and novelist, a great exhibition about the writer was held at the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB). In the school visited in the district of Lesseps, for example, there was a poetry presentation of the high school students in the library that was decorated for the occasion and where bookmarkers were distributed with Spriu poems. In the classrooms, smaller children read tales with their teachers and drew. There was a festival mood in every school setting.

After school, we were able to observe the festive atmosphere, with many young people selling roses on the school’s sidewalks to some charitable association, among others. The various parks of the neighborhood were occupied with bookstalls, as well as the Passeig de Gràcia and its parallel Rambla Catalunya, where they sell books, bookmarkers, brooches and roses, in their vast majority sold red. There is a visible predominance of books in Catalan.

In Rambla Catalunya, but not only in it, one can notice, observing the windows of the trade, that Sant Jordi is the theme. Shops of clothes, household goods, children’s toys and even pharmacies put some element on their windows - a rose, a poster, an illustration of Sant Jordi - that refers to the festival.

Following the promenade along Rambla Catalunya you get at the most important park square of Barcelona and heart of the city: Plaza Catalunya. It is all flowery - it is spring - crowded with people, and a platform set where interviews and conversations with authors are recorded and displayed on television. The local television news covers the festival with various reports throughout the day, interviewing people on the street, filming debates and the city movement.

We might think that as the festival happens on the streets, the bookstores would be empty. On the contrary, they are crowded. There are huge lines, often going out of the store itself. Some put tables on the sidewalk for easy sale. The La Central chain produced a supplement of books for the occasion that was distributed free of charge in its stores. It was a tabloid newspaper with stories about books, interviews with writers, lists of best-selling books, articles by journalists and writers. The creation of this publication helps to understand the dimension of this festival and its importance for the book publishing and bookseller market in Barcelona.

April 23, besides being a day of celebration, it is also a gift exchange. An exchange with its own rules, although not always maintained. Men give roses to women and, these, books to them. This intense gift exchange reminds us of the gift exchange at Christmas - especially for the fact that the Sant Jordi Festival is a book record-selling day, bigger than the Christmas party.

La Vanguardia: the newspaper and its history

A newspaper marked in its trajectory by political and economic projects. This is one of the main characteristics of the most enduring newspaper in Catalonia: La Vanguardia. With its 135 years of existence, the newspaper has about 660 thousand readers per day, being the third most widely read newspaper in Spain and the first in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia.

As defined by Aracil, Mayaro and Segura (2010), authors of the Diari duna post guerra, La Vanguardia Española (1939-1946), it is a symbol of continuity, reference and power in the Catalan society.

The story of the newspaper begins on February 1, 1881, when two businessmen, brothers Carlos and Bartolomé Godó Pié, launch the first issue of La Vanguardia. In its birth, the periodical was defined as “News and Announcements Political Diary” and it was intimately connected with the Liberal Party.

Buried on December 31, 1887 as a partisan newspaper, it is reborn on January 1, 1888 with a new format, two daily editions - morning and evening - and independent. To start the new life, it chooses the best occasion: it opens with the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona, an event that aimed to show the world how modern and plural the city was.

In a culturally effervescent city, the diary opened space for talented artists such as Pablo Picasso, who had his first criticism published in the newspaper in 1900. It is during the war that it becomes the newspaper with the largest circulation in Catalonia, with a circulation of more than 80 thousand copies. In 1934, it printed 177.785 copies and it was read throughout Spain, being number one in Catalonia and arriving in the years of Civil War consolidated as the vehicle of information per excellence of Catalan society (HUERTA, 2006, p. 82).

In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War broke out, the revolutionaries appropriated the newspaper, which became the main spokesman for the republican interests in Catalonia. However, three years later, when the Francoists win the war, they return the property to the Godó brothers; on the condition that they are messengers of the new regime and that they change the name to “La Vanguardia Espanhola”. After all, in Franco’s dictatorship, all regional nationalism was strongly opposed. In the edition of January 27, 1939, the day after the Francoist troops entered the city, the editorial took up the whole front page and celebrated “Barcelona to España undefeated by Franco” (Our translation) and, in the interior, the title could not be more effusive: “Apotheotic entrance of the national army in Spain” (Our translation). On the 28^th, La Vanguardia Espanhola is already on the stands (SÁNCHEZ VIGIL, 2016).

Despite its position and being published in a region predominantly opposed to the regime, the newspaper manages to remain one of the most read in Catalonia. Changes have taken place since the 1960s, when some freedom to approach Catalan political life begins to take hold. In 1978, already in the phase of Spanish political transition, after the death of General Franco, the newspaper returns to its name of baptism. La Vanguardia celebrates its centenary and shortly after, it inaugurates its first computerized writing. In 1989 a new graphic design was created after being copied by newspapers around the world.

But the great change was yet to come: on May 3, 2011 the first copy in Catalan was published. Without leaving the Spanish version, it can be the most read newspaper in the Catalan language, which is a milestone for a periodical that had already gone through so many phases in its 130 years of existence. “Thus, La Vanguardia can be conceived as a moderate Catalan newspaper, partisan of the recognition of certain rights to Catalonia, without this supposing to break the present Spanish constitutional board or by questioning the monarchical institution” (Our translation) (LLUENT, 2015, p.1).

The consensus seems to be that La Vanguardia has always adapted, within a conservative line, to hegemonic public opinion. “La Vanguardia, by its desire of hegemony and to get at the great majority of the society, did not placed itself in neither side during or after the outbreak of the sovereignist movement” (Our translation), in an academic paper in which it discusses the editorial change of the period between 2010 and 2014.

The Sant Jordi Festival and its representation in La Vanguardia

When we choose to analyze the Sant Jordi Festival in a daily newspaper of the great press such as La Vanguardia, we are clear that the mass media are representation producers. The narrative of the Catalan newspaper of the Sant Jordi Festival is a representation of reality. And the newspapers can also be read from this perspective. They organize the reality they tell from the classifications expressed in their editorials. La Vanguardia is no exception. It is structured in editorials, and we will see how the Sant Jordi Festival will be more present in the Culture, although its content “invades” other editorials.

Starting from the premise that the human being needs to classify, the anthropologist Laplantine (2001) discusses the notion of representation, fundamental for this study. What does the Sant Jordi Festival mean for the newspaper? According to Laplantine (2001, p.241 – Our translation)

The representation is always: 1) in the articulation of the individual and the social; 2) in three fields of investigation: that of knowledge - a representation is knowledge that does not doubt itself; that of value - a representation is not only knowledge of one who adheres to it, since it is considered entirely true and good, it is an evaluation; that of action - a representation is not reducible to its cognitive and evaluative aspects: simultaneously expressive and constructive of the social, it consists not only in a medium of knowledge, but in an instrument of action.

The representation will always be an interpretation with close relation to the social becoming reality itself, according to the French anthropologist. We understand, as in the analysis proposed by the communication scholar Motta (2005, p.3), that the representation of reality occurs through media discourses, which in turn are constituted of communicative strategies that use operations and options for concretizing intentions and goals. “Media narratives are not only representations of reality, but a way of organizing our actions according to cultural strategies in context”, explains the author, adding that “narratives and narrations are forms of exercising power and hegemony in different places and communication situations”.

We seek with this theoretical reflection to understand the meaning of the Sant Jordi Festival from its media representation. Here, as foreigners and scholars of the press, we approach this cultural event of great importance for Barcelona to understand it in a broader dimension. It is a festival day in which books and roses are symbols. Certainly, the fact that we are foreigners enables us to cast a look from the outside, from strangeness and not from familiarity. We are not part of this society, which can cause us to not have access to all the meanings of a festival of this size; however, we may not have the look of the native, who often does not alienate its own culture.

We started by presenting the edition of April 23, 2017. On this day, the newspaper has 108 pages, more than double its normal edition. Of these, 44 are advertising and, among them, 23 explicitly mention the Festival, which shows that this edition was prepared in advance and with the expectation of a big sale.

In relation to the advertisements - we will comment on later - attention is drawn beyond the quantity, the fact that many occupy a whole page and, for the most part, referring to the Sant Jordi Festival, whether in its text or in images with red roses, for example. Another relevant fact is the location of the ads. For most of the part they are on the odd page, which is considered the newspaper’s prime page. Therefore, ads served on odd-numbered pages are usually more expensive because they are viewed first. The journalists (TRAVANCAS, 1993), because they know they are seen and read first, also value that their stories be published on the odd pages, which will mean more prestige and visibility. In addition, an issue with so many ads means a newspaper with a prior preparation and expectation of a big sale.

What does this festival and its coverage say about Barcelona? On the one hand its particularity and its exceptionality. The newspaper reinforces these elements in its articles. In addition to Valentine’s Day, it is the World Book and Copyright Day and no other city celebrates that date with such vigor and intensity. This fact, together with the Festival’s application for becoming a UNESCO Heritage Site, is mentioned in the articles by: Isabel Garcia Pagan, journalist and deputy director of the journal (p.38); Miquel Molina, deputy director of the newspaper, (p.67) and Sant Vila, historian and Catalan politician, Secretary of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, (p.76).

“La portada” de La Vanguardia

Figure 1

A rose on a photo with the writers who participated in the festival organized by the newspaper itself the day before and whose title is “Sant Jordi in more festive closing” (Our translation) are the main elements of the cover of April 23, 2017. The image is followed by diverse news about the PP - Popular Party, the elections for President in France, the Champions League final to be played between the Barcelona and Real Madrid soccer teams that night, smaller calls to other subjects and a small announcement to the right of a brand of wine.

“The best day in the world - the party of ‘La Vanguardia’ brings together the literary sector on the eve of Sant Jordi” (Our translation) is the title of the central issue of the edition. There is a great photo that shows a cluster of people in a party mood. Party produced by the newspaper and reported on its pages, in a process of self-referential communication. It is Sant Jordi Festival, but a selective party for writers, editors and personalities of the literary world. One can understand that it is a great day for those directly involved with producing the book. As it is an edition published on the day of the festival, there are no images of the crowds on the streets, book stalls and events held throughout the city. The highlight is the party produced by the newspaper, where it is news and it also reports.

The question of self-referentiality can be thought of as a strategy of legitimation within the journalistic field. The mechanisms involved in the construction of the news, in the case of the party in the newspaper, are not hidden from the reader. The vehicle explains that the covered “suit” was promoted by itself. But there are several forms of self-referentiality. One of them is to bring the reader closer to the mechanisms of construction of the newspaper in “a new form of contact, according to “reading contracts” based on self-referential operations”, as states Fausto Neto (2007, p.78 – Our translation). It is the journalism student who also draws attention to the specificity of practices of self-referentiality in different fields, as is the case of Spain, for example. “There, the manifestations of self-referentiality emphasize processes of self-promotions, because newspapers make known their editorial products (supplements, notebooks etc.), an operation that does not serve specific informational interests” (FAUSTO NETO, 2007, p.78 – Our translation). Here we have two perspectives: on the one hand the newspaper does not “hide” from the reader who promotes the event and on the other, the journalistic company promoting the event is something different from its reporting function (FAUSTO NETO, 2007).

Interesting aspect for analysis are the countless colorful photos highlighting personalities and their speaking with an “eye”² in the reports. It is possible to affirm that this “heart” of the newspaper has a certain tone of celebrity magazine and celebrity press, understanding celebrity as a person that becomes public because of his or her talent, art or beauty. The difference is that the celebrities of this edition of the newspaper are not models, actresses or personalities of the political or football world, but writers and editors and so it draws attention and distinguishes itself from other numbers of the vehicle. They are not necessarily celebrities or bestsellers. They are people of the literary and publishing world, many on their day of anonymity and entering the world of fame through the Sant Jordi Festival and the cover of La Vanguardia.

Another important axis of this edition is the numerous signed articles that converge to a common point: the importance of the book and the appreciation of the Sant Jordi Festival. Here we can investigate the newspaper from an important concept for its analysis: the consensus. We start with the notion of consensus, a concept related to the need for social cohesion in the face of the tensions of the modern world. Durkheim (1997) understands consensus as the assimilation of individual consciousness that would result in immersion in the collective consciousness. It - consensus - comes on the scene as the possibility of overcoming instability caused by diversity. Thus, consensus expresses a common notion, the result of a reassuring agreement. There are no opponents. What we seek to understand was to what extent the Sant Jordi Festival and its cover go in this direction. No one is against the festival, on the contrary, from the anonymous citizen to politicians, editors and writers, who are directly involved. There is even a political movement that brings together opposing sectors around its realization and its transformation into a World Heritage Site.

In a research on the literary supplements of Brazilian and French newspapers, (TRAVANCAS, 2001) discusses with interviewees the consensus view on the importance of the book in our societies, as a cultured and mystified product. The book is value in Western societies, which refers to the idea of tradition and literacy. In the study, the symbolic gain of the supplement’s publication for the image of the newspaper was evident. They were not, and continue to be, not lucrative, but have an importance that is not measured financially. All this comes close to the cover of the Sant Jordi festival of La Vanguardia. There is no conflict regarding the value of the book in society, the importance of reading and the place that the Sant Jordi Festival deserves in a global context.

Let’s see what the main newspaper signed articles say. Ignacio Orovio, chief journalist for the newspaper’s Culture magazine, signs the central page of this edition, whose event was organized by the newspaper and already mentioned. In the opening, it mentions the 86 thousand new titles that will be available at the festival and, throughout the text, describes the event - the fourth organized by the newspaper - and lists more than 600 personalities linked to the newspaper and the publishing world present. The article by Llucia Ramis, a journalist and Catalan writer, on the next page describes the atmosphere of the festival, the famous writers present in the Alma Hotel garden - from Siri Hustvetd, Donna Leon - honored foreign writers - to successful Spanish writers such as Quim Monzó and Javier Cercas, through pianist James Rhodes. Ramis states that: “In Sant Jordi, pollen and love are in the air” (Our translation).

“El Miami Basel de los libro” is the title of the article by Miquel Molina on page 67. In it, the director of the newspaper says that Barcelona does not receive the great art exhibitions such as Madrid. But the Sant Jordi festival, in his opinion, it influences and “infects” the city with professional and party activities, as the Basel fair contaminates the nightlife of Miami. Molina says there is no doubt about the importance of the day of the book. In addition to concerts, private parties and conferences, many authors start to autograph their books days before Sant Jordi. The journalist ends by praising the proposal that the Sant Jordi Festival become a UNESCO Heritage Site, while regretting the fact that universal literature is no longer mandatory in Spanish schools.

Page 76 brings together two great articles of characters from outside the publishing world: Mariano Rajoy - Prime Minister of Spain - and Santi Vila - politician, historian and Secretary of Culture of Catalonia. Rajoy takes the opportunity to highlight in his text “The Book, Bridge of Understanding” (Our translation), that, with the festival, Barcelona has a moment of cultural apogee that reinforces the union of the country and establishes a dialogue between Catalonia and Spain. The article highlights the importance of literature and writer Miguel de Cervantes and his words about the capital of Catalonia, but also has a clear political message in a moment of tension in relation to the desire for independence of Catalonia. Santi Vila opens his article emphasizing the Díada of Sant Jordi with the celebration of books and roses as an expression of the values of citizenship of “catalanidad contemporánea”. The Counselor establishes a dialogue with the text on the side by reaffirming the right of Catalonia to decide whether to separate from Spain or not. Finally, Santi puts light on the civic dimension of the festival and ends by narrating the commitment in the candidacy of Barcelona to “Immaterial, ultra-local and universal, national and liberal heritage of the Catalans and the world!” (Our translation).

We highlight the article by Jaume Pujol Balcells, archbishop of Tarragona, which focuses on the legend of Sant Jordi, recalling his history and also the Barcelona festival. He ends with a personal testimony and also a religious note: “I have always enjoyed participating in this captivating festival, in which a knight of faith, love and culture mingle. It’s what our world needs” (Our translation). In such a large edition - more than 100 pages - and which encompasses a significant number of points of view of different social actors such as politicians, religious, men of the publishing world, writers and journalists, the power of this celebration and the unanimity of reception.

Another journalistic and visual element present in this edition is the upper “banner” created especially for this edition and it occupies almost every page with two personalities identified by a photo and its name - next to the biography and a brief commentary on a chosen book also identified by its cover. And among them a red rose. The section also functions as a book suggestion panel for the newspaper readers.

The readers are present in the journal through eight letters that appear on page 46. Two of them are about the Festival: “El dia del libro” and “El color de las rosas” and gained prominence when they were placed in front of the others published in the section “Cartas de los lectores”. The other six letters deal with topics of everyday urban life, such as work, high summer temperatures, or compliments to citizens. Notice the clear intention of the editors to value the theme of the day by prioritizing the reading of the letters that speak of the festival.

Advertising in this edition occupies a prominent place. There are 44 pages of ads and 23 of them refer to the book festival. There is also a close association with the festival given by the images of books, roses and Sant Jordi. They are full page ads from the publishing and bookseller industry, such as FNAC, Penguin Random House and Abacus (bookstore chain), for example. And the advertising of companies and products unrelated to the book. This is the case of banks La Caixa and Santander. The first one features a black-and-white photo of a man walking with a red rose in his hand in front of a bench building. And he says: “We have 364 days to innovate. Not today. Today is a day of tradition. One day to celebrate that we are together. A day of roses and books. A day of dragons, knights and princesses. Tomorrow will be another day. Happy Sant Jordi to all”. Banco Santander uses the colors white and red to wish a happy day with a picture of a book and a rose emphasizing its support for the diffusion of culture with its social initiatives. Jewelry shops, insurance companies, beverage brands, department stores, gas stations, medical clinics, design offices and the auto industry are examples of advertising produced specifically for the occasion. This set of ads gives the dimension to the financial success of this expanded edition of the newspaper.

Final considerations

In this brief article, we try to analyze the construction of the Sant Jordi Festival by the newspaper La Vanguardia. For this, we seek to understand the origins and meanings of the festival and its expression in Barcelona. The event concept by historian Nora (1987) helps us to reflect on the event. For Nora (1987, p.256 – Our translation) “the event bears less witness to what it translates than to what it reveals, less about what it is than about what it provokes. Its significance is absorbed in its repercussion: it is only an echo, a mirror of society, a hole “. In our opinion, the Sant Jordi Festival is an “event” for the Catalan city, for its inhabitants and also for the press. According to Goldolf-Ellito, “news values” (apud WOLF, 2004, p.222 – Our translation) “They are, therefore, practical rules that include a corpus of professional knowledge that explains and directs the writing work processes”. They are qualities of the event that justify their inclusion on the newspaper page. As we have pointed out throughout this work, the Sant Jordi Festival in Barcelona is an event and the event in 2017 can be seen as a paradigm of journalistic coverage. This coverage is representative of the importance of the party so widely reported by La Vanguardia.

From this transformation of the festival into news, we can affirm that there is, as Berger and Luckman (1997) point out, a process of construction of reality. In the specific case of the coverage of 2017, it includes reports and interviews, numerous articles signed by prestigious people in the Spanish society and also Catalan. The festival is the central topic of the journal on April 23, 2017, both in terms of number of pages and advertising as well as the content of its articles. And we come to one of the crucial points for the analysis of the April issue: its size. It is a newspaper with more than 100 pages and almost half of it, whether it is news or articles, refers to the book festival. We find in the reading and analysis of this edition its exceptionality. Certainly it is not monothematic. There are many issues from politics, international and sports publishing, to name a few. But the main thread of the newspaper was the Sant Jordi Festival. It is the main subject of the newspaper and extrapolates the pages from the specific editorial: culture. And here we find another element that contributes to justify the breadth of news coverage. This is the application of the Barcelona city festival to become an Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

So we touched on the second aspect of the analysis of the April 23, 2017 issue: the idea of consensus. Throughout the pages of the newspaper we did not find a dissonant voice on the subject. The articles are different, as are the signed articles. However, what is perceived is a consensus regarding the importance of the festival for the city, for the publishing market and for Spain. And if the festival becomes a World Heritage Site, it will put the city in the spotlight and directly related to the world of books. The construction of the journal with articles by journalists, politicians and religious people reinforces not only the consensus, but the idea of unanimity. Throughout its pages, it was not possible to find a dissenting voice about the festival. It is unanimity and allows the construction of the image of Barcelona closely linked to the festival and the books. We could think of the transformations suffered by the capital of Catalonia analyzed by the anthropologist Delgado (2007), among others: a city that rebuilt itself for the Olympic Games becoming one of the most visited European cities, but generating a process of gentrification. There is an expectation that the Festival, becoming a World Heritage Site, could generate a growth of movement on the streets and bookstores as well as in the press coverage, including international press.

To conclude, we emphasize that the representation of La Vanguardia is neither static nor alone. We perceive the efforts of countless people - Government, the press, booksellers, publishers, writers - to associate Barcelona with books and reading, thus giving it a positive image that values the city not only as a tourist center but as a cultural center producer of a unique festival.

Referências

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Oct-Dec 2018

History

• Received
  12 Apr 2018
• Accepted
  16 Nov 2018