The dramaturgical construction of journalistic TV characters in fictional series (2012-2024): psychological profiles and transformation arcs

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n42a2751

Keywords:

Journalism, television, anchor, producer, TV series

Abstract

The success of the The Newsroom was accompanied by the controversy that the idealism of the protagonists aroused among professionals in the medium. Although series about television news journalists already existed before The Newsroom, the media impact caused by its premiere inaugurated a new trend in the genre. This article investigates the television productions that have emerged between 2012 and 2024 following the beginning of The Newsroom. The research focuses on the development of a contemporary classification of the type of personality displayed by the protagonists of this subgenre, based on the premise that the series analyzed must reflect in their plots the daily behaviours of a television newsroom while the dramatic weight of the conflicts falls on the choral protagonism of the characters. The aim is to show which is the dramatic construction of the characters preferred by the scriptwriters to make the plots more attractive and interesting. The research focuses its analysis on the three main roles characteristic of television news: who directs the news, who produces it and who presents it. Film script strategies have been applied to its study in the development of dramatic characters. The conclusions confirm the confluence of some roles.

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Author Biographies

  • José Gabriel Lorenzo López, Villanueva University

    PhD in Audio-visual Arts from Rey Juan Carlos University, he also serves as a lecturer on the Audio-visual Communications Degree at Villanueva University, and at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático [graduate school of the dramatic arts] of Castilla y León. Professor Lorenzo López also teaches on the Master’s Degree in Screenwriting for Film and TV Series at Rey Juan Carlos University. His publications include the screenplay entitled, El Día del Fin del Mundo [The day the world ended], for which he obtained a grant from the Autonomous Region of Madrid for the development of this and other feature film scripts. Moreover, he is also the screenwriter for the film, No Puedo Vivir sin Ti [I can’t live without you], which has been released on Netflix in the current year of 2024. In addition to being a screenwriter, his work as a researcher focuses on cinematic narratives and dramatic strategies for both in film and television scripts.

  • Pablo Úrbez Fernández, Villanueva University

    PhD in Communication from the University of Navarra, in addition to a bachelor’s degrees in both Journalism and History, he also serves as Secretary of the Audio-visual Communications Degree at Villanueva University. His main line of research is historical and biographical portrayals in audio-visual media, which was the subject of his doctoral thesis, and he has also completed one six-year investigative term. He has participated in both national and international conferences in the areas of Communication and Humanities, in addition to having carried out a research stay at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan in 2021, and at King’s College London in 2024.

References

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Published

01-01-2026

Issue

Section

Miscellaneous of Research articles and essays

How to Cite

Lorenzo López, J. G., & Úrbez Fernández, P. (2026). The dramaturgical construction of journalistic TV characters in fictional series (2012-2024): psychological profiles and transformation arcs. Doxa Comunicación. Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication Studies and Social Sciences, 42, 233-254. https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n42a2751
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