Within the European Union, the pluralist polarized journalistic model suggests
the presence of journalistic cultures rooted in the connections between political
parties and media organizations. In this classical framework, the state exerts
significant intervention to influence a media system characterized by lower
levels of professionalization. In this regard, Spain serves as a well-examined
example of a pluralist polarized Western democracy. Our study entails a
systematic review based on two distinct dimensions. Firstly, we scrutinized all
legal documents pertaining to media regulation in Spain published between
the Spanish transition and the present 1977–2024. From this perspective,
we propose a chronological evolution to categorize this extensive collection
of norms. Secondly, we complement our primary source assessment with an
examination of secondary sources to validate the proposed evolution. Our
findings indicate that the Spanish media regulation is evolving due to two
pivotal factors: the influence of the European Union and the preservation of the
narrative established during the transition to democracy. While contemporary
communication grapples with issues such as the rise of artificial intelligence,
journalistic instability, algorithmic communication, and fragmented user
consumption, these areas are only addressed peripherally within the Spanish
media normative context.
