Comparative Analysis of the Journalistic Agenda between Corporate and Community Media in Ecuador National Strike 2022

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of the journalistic coverage of the Ecuador social mobilizations of June 2022. It takes as case studies the corporate media Ecuavisa, with 215 news of the stellar newscast Televistazo, and the community media Televisión del Movimiento Indígena de Cotopaxi (TV MICC), with 437 publications on its Facebook page. Based on the Critical Discourse Analysis, we investigate the media disputes of meaning and power in the journalistic agenda and framing, from which the legitimization and delegitimization of the protest were configured. Among the main results, Ecuavisa focused its news agenda on the defense of governmental actions and the support to the productive business sector, generating a frame of support for the actions of the public forces in defense of democracy, while TV MICC, in a practice of communicational sovereignty, generated journalistic coverage vindicating the political agenda of the mobilization led by the Indigenous Movement. Additionally, it made visible the multiple violations of human and cultural rights carried out by the public force within the framework of a racist culture.