Published
2026-09-10
Issue
Section
Research Article
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Concepción Gómez López
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
As a whole, the author(s) declare that ( download model ):
1.- Original and innovative contributions are made through this text. I/we certify that this work has not been published in whole or in part by any other means nor is it under consideration for publication in another journal.
2.- I/we acquire the commitment to accept the writing, publication, review and evaluation standards considered by Fonseca, Journal of Communication.
3.- I/we take responsibility for the content of the text that I/we send and for having contributed to the conception, design and execution of the work, analysis and interpretation of data and for having participated in the writing of the text and its possible revisions as well. as in the approval of the version that I/we finally send.
4.- I/we have been informed that changes in style of the manuscript may occur but that, nevertheless and in any case, the final galleys will be sent to me/us before the text, in case of favorable evaluation, is definitively published as an article. I/we undertake to acknowledge receipt of said proofs as well as, once verified, to give approval for their publication in the shortest possible time. I/we understand that we give tacit approval to the galleys if I/we do not send a response within 10 calendar days of receiving them.
5.- I/we affirm to know that the publication of an article in Fonseca, Journal of Communication does not entail any cost or remuneration.
6.- I/we declare to be free of any personal and/or commercial association that may pose a conflict of interest in connection with the article submitted as well as having respected the ethical principles of research.
7.- The undersigned author(s) transfer/we transfer the property rights (copyright) of this work to Fonseca, Journal of Communication so that it may be published under a Creative Commons license (in the modality indicated at the bottom of the main page of Fonseca, Journal of Communication. I/we assign the editing and reproduction rights.
How to Cite
When the Grid Went Silent: Radio Journalism, Crisis Framing and Public Responsibility in Spain’s 28A Blackout
Radio Journalism, Crisis Framing and Public Responsibility in Spain’s 28A Blackout
Concepción Gómez López
UNIVERSIDAD DE VIGO
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3243-9427
Keywords: Radio Journalism, Blackout, Crisis Communication, Media Framing, Public Responsibility
Abstract
This article examines radio journalism as a public resource when a technical breakdown becomes a societal emergency. It analyses the Iberian blackout of 28 April 2025, which disrupted electricity, transport, telecommunications and everyday access to information. Drawing on a mixed-methods content analysis of 346 items published or archived online by RNE, RNE Audio, Cadena SER, COPE and Onda Cero between 28 April and 5 May 2025, the study compares public-service and commercial radio coverage. The findings show that radio helped organise uncertainty through immediate updates, practical guidance and narratives of causality. Yet mediation was uneven. Public-service radio relied more strongly on expert and institutional voices and maintained a cautious explanatory register for longer, whereas commercial networks moved earlier towards political evaluation, responsibility claims and the lived experience of disruption. The article argues that radio remains a significant infrastructure of public mediation in moments of systemic vulnerability.
References
AIMC. (2025, May 28). Los datos del EGM confirman el papel crucial de la radio en la jornada del «apagón». https://www.aimc.es/blog/los-datos-del-egm-confirman-papel-crucial-la-radio-la-jornada-del-apagon/
Batlle, C., Barruso, M., Rodilla, P., & Canoyra, A. (2025). The (hopefully) enlightening blackout in Spain: Questions and lessons for the future. MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. https://ceepr.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MIT-CEEPR-RC-2025-03.pdf
Capurro, G., Jardine, C. G., Tustin, J., & Driedger, S. M. (2021). Communicating scientific uncer-tainty in a rapidly evolving situation: A framing analysis of Canadian coverage in early days of COVID-19. BMC Public Health, 21, 2181. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12292-7
Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007). Framing theory. Annual Review of Political Science, 10, 103–126. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054
Comité de Análisis 28-A. (2025). Informe no confidencial del Comité de Análisis de las circunstan-cias que concurrieron en la crisis de electricidad del 28 de abril de 2025. Gobierno de España. https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/consejodeministros/resumenes/Documents/2025/Informe-no-confidencial-Comite-de-analisis-28A.pdf
Cox, E., Royston, S., & Selby, J. (2022). «I hope they shouldn’t happen»: Social vulnerability and resilience to urban energy disruptions in a digital society in Scotland. Energy Research & Social Science, 92, 102786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102786
Dugan, J., Byles, D., & Mohagheghi, S. (2023). Social vulnerability to long-duration power outages. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 85, 103501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103501
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Commu-nication, 43(4), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
ENTSO-E. (2026). Final report on the grid incident in Spain and Portugal on 28 April 2025. Euro-pean Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. https://www.entsoe.eu/publications/blackout/28-april-2025-iberian-blackout/
European Broadcasting Union. (2024, April 16). Radio in times of crisis. https://www.ebu.ch/research/loginonly/report/radio-in-times-of-crisis
Gonzalez, T., & Knox, J. (2023). In the dark: The scapegoating of renewables after grid failures. Natural Resources Journal, 63(1). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol63/iss1/3/
Hayek, L. (2024). Media framing of government crisis communication during Covid-19. Media and Communication, 12. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.7774
Kasperson, R. E., Webler, T., Ram, B., & Sutton, J. (2022). The social amplification of risk frame-work: New perspectives. Risk Analysis, 42(7), 1367–1380. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13926
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (4th ed.). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071878781
Laakso, S., Castellazzi, E., Matschoss, K., & Rinkinen, J. (2024). Agents of change or victims of transition? Media framings on household roles during the energy crisis. Sustainability Science, 19, 739–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01434-w
Lombard, M., Snyder-Duch, J., & Bracken, C. C. (2002). Content analysis in mass communication: Assessment and reporting of intercoder reliability. Human Communication Research, 28(4), 587–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2002.tb00826.x
Mason, A. M. (2019). Media frames and crisis events: Understanding the impact on corporate repu-tations, responsibility attributions, and negative affect. International Journal of Business Communi-cation, 56(3), 414–431. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488416648951
Matthews, J. (2025). Reporting to audiences in crisis: Disruption, criticism and absent hope in TV journalism’s rendering of the impactful UK energy price rises. Media, Culture & Society, 47(3), 478–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241282921
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opin-ion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1086/267990
Mercado-Sáez, M. T. (2017). Treatment and framing of energy issues on television: An analysis of the infotainment programs on the Spanish TV channel La Sexta. Communication & Society, 30(4), 135–150. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.30.4.135-150
Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico. (2025, June 17). Se presenta el in-forme del Comité de análisis de la crisis eléctrica del 28 de abril. https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/prensa/ultimas-noticias/2025/junio/se-presenta-el-informe-del-comite-de-analisis-de-la-crisis-elect.html
Neuendorf, K. A. (2017). The content analysis guidebook (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Ninni Ramos, K., Mourão, R. R., Bortoleto, A. P., Brondizio, M., Vieira, E. P. D., Shope, M., & Moran, E. (2025). Cyclic events as «crises»: Media coverage of supply shortages, rationing, and blackouts in Brazil from 2001–2021. Environmental Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2025.2544557
Piñeiro-Naval, V. (2020). La metodología de análisis de contenido: Usos y aplicaciones en la inves-tigación comunicativa del ámbito hispánico. Communication & Society, 33(3), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.33.3.1-16
Ptak, T., Brooks, J., & Stock, R. (2025). A systematic review and typology of power outage litera-ture: Critical infrastructure, climate change and social impacts. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 218, 115778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.115778
Rodero-Antón, E., & Blanco-Hernández, M. (2020). El papel de la radio en situaciones de crisis: Iniciativas en la pandemia del coronavirus. index.comunicación, 10(3), 193–213. https://doi.org/10.33732/ixc/10/03Elpape
Rudolph-Cleff, A., Schmidt, M., Lutze, M., & Voss, M. (2022). Crisis communication in a blackout scenario: An assessment considering socio-spatial parameters and the vulnerabilities of the popula-tion. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 79, 103184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103184
Salman, H. M., Pasupuleti, J., & Sabry, A. H. (2023). Review on causes of power outages and their occurrence: Mitigation strategies. Sustainability, 15(20), 15001. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152015001
Zhang, Q., & Zhang, X. (2024). Media influence on public trust during crises: A comparative analy-sis of different media types and trust dimensions. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 32(3), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12624
