‘Supertanker is a Hero, the Government a Villain’: Politicization of Chile’s 2017 Forest Fires in the Media

Abstract

This article analyses the politicization of natural disasters in the media and the narratives of crisis that contribute to these dynamics. In particular, it studies media coverage of the 2017 mega-fires in Chile and the way in which this coverage was framed by pre-existing political disputes over the performance of Michelle Bachelet’s government (2014–2018). It examines the print press coverage of the mega-fires, and the framing contests used to interpret the fire crisis. It pays special attention to the controversies that erupted over the foreign planes that were sent to help fight the fires: the American Supertanker and the Russian Ilyushin. We argue that press coverage of the mega-fires transformed a natural-social phenomenon into an emotionally charged political drama in which the Supertanker airplane was signified as the hero, and the Chilean government the villain. The Supertanker played a condensation symbol role. It was cast in the media as an external hero promising to control the fires that had overwhelmed local capabilities, and to overcome a government that was portrayed as inefficient and late to respond. The media functioned as an echo chamber for the cultural battle between the government and opposition. This article contributes to a cultural sociology of disasters, paying special attention to the role played by the symbolic representation of nature and socio-technical artefacts in political disputes.