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The newsworthiness of trans issues has increased over the last two decades, resulting in unprecedented media visibility of trans people. However, there is still a long way to go in the study of the Agenda Building factors that have influenced this media attention. The aim of this article is to analyze the Intermedia Agenda Setting (IAS) dynamics on the coverage of trans issues in the Spanish digital news media landscape during the period 2001–2020. A quantitative content analysis was conducted, using the Granger Causality test for both issue-salience and attribute-salience IAS dynamics between different types of news media. In general, news flows have been observed from national-to-local, from progressive-to-conservative, and from legacy-to-digital-native media at the issue-salience level. However, from 2016 onwards, progressive and conservative media influence one another. This can be attributed to the generation of an alternative agenda on trans issues by the anti-trans rights movement in recent years. As a consequence of the presence of these competing trans rights and anti-trans rights agendas, media coverage of trans issues has become polarized. In contrast, IAS dynamics at the attribute-salience level are not clear. These findings suggest IAS dynamics have played an essential role in the increasing media attention on trans people. However, the decline in the media delegitimization of trans rights cannot be attributed to IAS dynamics. This study highlights the dynamic nature of IAS, which can evolve based on the agenda and degree of eliteness of each media outlet at any given time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parallel to the increase in media attention to trans issues over the last two decades, media delegitimization of trans rights and misrepresentation of trans people have decreased. Trans-friendly news coverage is crucial, as previous research suggests that the news media can influence the identification and social transition processes of trans youths. The present study aims to investigate the potential relationship between media coverage of trans issues and the social transitions of trans minors in the Basque Country (Spain). Various time series analyses were conducted for the period from May 2015 to December 2020 between different news media coverages and registrations to the Basque NGO of families with trans minors. The results indicate that news coverage focusing on trans issues, trans minors, and NGOs of trans families with trans minors can have an almost immediate impact on registrations to these NGOs and, by extension, on the social transitions of trans youths. Both national and local news media outlets are influential in forecasting registration numbers, along with progressive ones. However, conservative outlets do not show the same forecasting value. These findings highlight that news media has played a crucial role in the social transition of trans minors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media coverage of transsexuality has increased in different parts of the world. This increase reinforces its visibility, but it can also contribute to developing, reinforcing and legitimizing different attitudes, such as transphobia. In order to analyze the discursive patterns on transsexuality in the Spanish digital press during the period 2000-2020, this article has conducted a quantitative content analysis. Combining manual coding (n = 1095) with rule-based text classification (N = 9922), the media delegitimization to which transsexual people are subjected has been analyzed using logistic regression and multilevel analysis. The results confirm that the newsworthiness of transsexuality in Spain has increased significantly over the first two decades of the 21st century. They also indicate that the media delegitimization of transsexuality has been significantly reduced. These findings suggest a remarkable evolution in the news media coverage of transsexuality. However, improvements are still needed. Therefore, the need to continue training and sensitizing journalists is underlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in media attention towards trans issues in the last two decades has contributed to reinforcing its visibility. However, the media coverage of trans minors has hardly been addressed by previous literature. The objective of this study is to analyze the media coverage of trans children and adolescents in the Spanish digital press during the period 2006–2020. To do that, this article has conducted a quantitative content analysis combining manual coding and rule-based text classification. The results confirm that the media coverage of trans minors has increased. Most of the analyzed delegitimization patterns of trans people have decreased over the years, although they remain relatively stable during the last period. Contrary to what could be thought, childhood and adolescence do not seem to act as a protective factor against media delegitimization. These findings suggest that trans children are at the front-page of Spanish public debate. Despite the increasing visibility of trans minors, they continue to be mistreated in the media. In fact, trans children may be even more questioned than adults. All in all, this study underlines the importance of trans minors in the news coverage of trans issues and, in extension, in the fight for trans rights. Prior state of knowledge: Even if previous literature suggests that news media coverage seems to be associated with the number of trans children who go to clinical services to start their social transition, there is no longitudinal quantitative evidence on the news media representation of trans children. Novel contributions: Neither childhood nor adolescence seem to act as a protective factor against media delegitimization. In fact, trans children may be even more questioned than adults and they have become a centerpiece for anti-trans media strategies. Practical implications: The need to continue raising awareness among journalists about trans minors is underscored. Some possible courses of action could be the participation of journalists in the creation and dissemination of guidelines and the organization of asynchronous online courses and offline workshops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hierarchical influences model attributes significant influence to journalists over their news content. A quantitative content analysis was conducted to examine the impact of journalists’ gender and reporting experience on the media delegitimization of the trans community in Spain. The results emphasize their minimal impact. Instead, media attention and delegitimization of the trans community appear to be shaped by the prevailing value system cultivated in newsrooms, personal attitudes, values, and beliefs and journalistic role performance. These findings underscore the significance of theoretical knowledge over practical experience in the news coverage of specific news topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]