Naming the Combatants of the Colombian Armed Conflict in News Broadcasts: The Discursive Positioning of Journalists

Abstract

By examining the labels used to refer to the Colombian armed groups in news, this study analyses to what extent news incorporates the war communication of the armed groups. The analysis of 452 news reports broadcast by national channels shows that most reports are written in a detached manner, suggesting the ‘objectivity’ of news reporting. Nonetheless, the qualitative analysis shows that this factual and descriptive style hides the subtle discursive bias of news. Thus it is concluded that Colombian media has contributed more to war than to peace building. doi: 10.5294/pacla.2016.19.1.3

Keywords

• Journalists’ discursive detachment
• Colombia
• military
• guerrillas
• paramilitary
• war communication