@ChrisMayLA6

The way the Spanish election was reported in the anglosphere has been interesting - following a pattern I've seen before in the reporting of European elections.

Before the vote, it was all about the rise of the extreme right. Here, for example, are The Guardian headlines in the 3 days before the election:

'How Spain’s conservatives joined forces with far-right Vox'
'Spanish election offers opportunity to far right as PP seeks power'
'Spain poised for shift to the right as polls open in snap election'

You would have had to look hard in anglosphere mainstream media to find any coverage of the left. Even after the inconclusive result - in which the far right Vox lost over a third of their previous seats - the Guardian's primary focus was on the right:

'Spain elections: hung parliament after conservatives fail to secure expected majority'

The same pattern has generally held for reporting of, for example, AfD in Germany, or RN (formerly FN) in France - etc... Why?

@GeofCox

Its a really interesting Q.: on the face of it I'd say it was about denying agency to the the Left, while the right is seen as dynamic... why that perception is (re)presented in the media may have something to do with the issues of slant, but also I d wonder whether its because in a celebrity-driven culture where class (as a political issue is supposedly, but wrongly) presumed to be past its sell-by date, that there is a lack of ability to grant a similar dynamism to the left?

@ChrisMayLA6

That's so interesting - and I hadn't thought of it like that. Certainly the Continental European left is more traditional-working-class than most anglosphere left parties - Díaz, the Spanish Sumar left coalition leader, is a communist - and of course the communists were also in the highly successful Portuguese ruling coalition until recently - Mélenchon, the French left leader, was in the Socialist Party, but very much in the traditional French communist tradition - etc...

I wonder if the main left parties in Europe were either more centrist (and Macron, of course, is treated much more sympathetically abroad than at home) - or indeed if they were driven by 'identity politics' rather than social class - they would be seen as more interesting and dynamic?