REPRESENTATION OF FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY IN CONTEMPORARY SPANISH TV SERIES ON PRIME TIME

The following study analyzes the degree of representation and autonomy of the characters with functional diversity in Spanish fiction during prime time during the second half of 2016, 2017 and the first half of 2018. For this purpose, 1,237 characters from 47 fiction series, aired on the six national generalist channels (La 1, La 2, Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco, and La Sexta) have been analyzed. Through a method validated by previous studies, it has been concluded that there is an underrepresentation of 8.6 percentage points by the Spanish fiction of characters with functional diversity compared to reality, their autonomy being barely shown as individuals, both in the field of daily activities, and in the fact of starring in the narratives in which they appear. Therefore, the need to review the models of representation of social minorities in the mass media becomes apparent. In addition, expanding the study towards the analysis of audiovisual content located on online content platforms is proposed. The promotion of people and characters with functional diversity in the Spanish television industry is also proposed.