“Spectacle of Broken Cities and Broken Lives”

Media Innovations in U.S. Journalistic Reporting of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

This paper examines how the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) was portrayed in the United States through innovative media forms. By conducting a qualitative content analysis of news outlets of Time Inc, the study investigates how photography, radio, and newsreels covered the conflict. These outlets pioneered interpretative reporting and exploited the affordances of emerging media technologies. The analysis shows that coverage centered on the experiences of common people and especially on the devastation caused by aerial bombardment. While some reporting aimed to evoke compassion and solidarity, other narratives dehumanized victims or framed civilian suffering as an inevitable consequence of modern war. The coverage used new media to suggest immediacy and authenticity by empathizing eyewitnessing. In combination with explicit depictions of violence, this produced emotional engagement. The war was thus constructed as a consumable spectacle.