Leticia Adams and Dr. Eliza Tanner, Communications
Over the past ten years, Chilean media have had more access to international media due to Chile’s expanding telecommunications platform. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not international media coverage of human rights (HR) issues influences Chilean media coverage of HR issues. I define international media (IM) as media that originate outside of Chile and transcend Chile’s borders via communication systems such as the Internet, satellite, or fax. I hypothesized that the presence of IM causes Chilean media to deal with HR issues in ways that they would not if they were entirely isolated.
The study was conducted in Santiago, Chile, over a one-month’s period. It is based upon interviews with seven Chilean journalists or editors who have worked in the news industry for the past ten years. These included journalists from Radio Chilena and El Mercurio; editors for Televición Nacional (TVN), Canal 13, and Las Últimas Noticas (LUN); and the director of digital news for La Tercera. I was also able to talk with several less experienced journalists and with one of Augusto Pinochet’s prosecuting attorneys. Because the latter were not journalists with over ten years of experience, I did not include them in this study. However, they did provide perspective into the context in which Chilean media and IM operate.
In the interviews, I asked the participants to describe their organization’s current approach to HR issues and how it has changed since Pinochet’s dictatorship ended. Journalists from Canal 13, TVN, El Mercurio, LUN, and La Tercera said that from the time the dictatorship ended until 1998, their organization never placed human rights on the agenda. Canal 13, chose not to report on these issues in compliance with the Catholic Church’s position that emphasized forgiveness and reconciliation. El Mercurio and LUN sympathized with the military and would not publish anything critical of the dictatorship. TVN and La Tercera wanted to avoid controversial issues to protect the fledgling new democracy. Radio Chilena’s reporter said that radio broadcasters felt less restricted than other media to discuss HR issues and discussed them openly.
Canal 13 said it now reports all news related to HR, but does so less often than its competitor, TVN. TVN confirmed this and stated that they place great importance on any HR issue. LUN and El Mercurio said that they hardly discuss these issues, but when they do, they report them delicately so as not to attack the military. La Tercera said that they discuss HR issues objectively, but are careful to do so in a way that will not offend any sector of society. All of the informants said that they are prohibited from using the term “dictator” when referring to Pincohet. Their management believes that doing so would imply support for the leftist movement and lower audience ratings.
All of the informants said that IM’s approaches to HR issues differ greatly from Chilean news coverage of HR issues. They stated that IM discuss these issues in more depth and speak more openly against Pinochet. La Tercera, Radio Chilena, and TVN said that IM report the issues in depth because they have greater resources to conduct investigative journalism. Radio Chilena said that IM do not face the economic and political repercussions that Chilean media face. TVN, LUN, and El Mercurio said that international correspondents speak openly against Pinochet because they only see him as an abuser of HR and do not recognize any good he might have done for the country. TVN and Canal 13 said that how IM report Chilean HR issues is sensationalism rather than true journalism in that it focuses on abuses by individual members of the Junta. El Mercurio and Radio Chilena said that most Chilean media respect IM.
When asked if IM affects their reportage of HR, all of the participants said that it did so in two major ways. One, it was part of an overall movement that helped place HR issues on their agenda, and two, it provided more information to report to the Chilean public. Canal 13, TVN, and El Mercurio said that prior to Pincohet’s detention in London, they never discussed HR issues. When Pinochet was arrested, they were compelled to mention HR issues to explain the circumstances of his arrest. As Canal 13 put it, they were forced to “rewrite” history and acknowledge Pinochet’s abuses. They said that IM played a critical role in conveying the world’s opinion on HR violations in Chile, encouraging open discussion in the Chilean media.
LUN said that the Chilean media relied upon IM for information on a daily basis during Pinochet’s detention. All the informants said that IM continue to provide the Chilean media with information to report to the public. For example, both Canal 13 and TVN said that they received information from a Spanish newspaper of Judge Garzon’s intent to arrest one of Pincohet’s generals who was traveling in Germany.
Some of the journalists mentioned other ways IM have influenced their coverage of HR issues. Radio Chilena said that some journalism schools show CNN coverage of different kinds of issues, including HR, and that this may influence the reporting of future journalists. Canal 13 said that IM’s discussions of the issue have “forced Chile to elevate themselves to the level of IM.” TVN said that the examples of IM have helped Chile revise laws concerning free speech, allowing books that bring up HR issues to be published. However, Canal 13, La Tercera, LUN, and Radio Chilena said that there are still many political and economic concerns that make it difficult for them to be more open about HR issues. They said that, ultimately, the owners of their news organizations control what is discussed. TVN and La Tercera said that most lead editors do not believe HR issues are applicable to the majority of the population and are not worth reporting.
In describing how their organization would cover the issues in the absence of IM, Canal 13 and El Mercurio said that Chilean media would not discuss the issue because the country is so conservative. La Tercera and TVN said that HR would not have been placed on the agenda, were it not for IM. LUN stated, “Perhaps Chile’s attempt to be more open about the issue would be much slower.” Radio Chilena said the discussion would be reduced because they would not have access to information.
Ultimately, the executives of the Chilean news organizations make the decisions on how HR issues will be discussed and, in the interests of maintaining high ratings, cause the media to discuss the issues in ways that might differ from IM approaches. However, IM does have an influence in encouraging Chilean media to place HR on the agenda and reporting it to the public. Chilean media’s human rights discussion would be reduced if they were not exposed to IM.