Homelessness in the Spanish print media: An analysis from 2008 to 2021

Abstract

Living on the street represents the extreme paradigm of social exclusion and the phenomenon, far from calming down, has not stopped growing in recent years. Homeless people and homelessness are now in the news, since they are becoming more and, therefore, more visible, which provokes the need to produce knowledge, both scientifically and socially. But, how has homelessness been defined and perceived through the newspapers? To obtain an answer, a qualitative research methodology has been chosen, based on the analysis of the discourse and content of sixty news published by the main Spanish newspapers since 2008. The results obtained, structured through a tree of categories, allow us to have a holistic and comprehensive vision, in addition to favoring the presentation of a brief journalistic style guide that contributes to the destigmatization of the group and the good practices of the group of media professionals.