Hay más de una manera de pelar un gato. Re-examinando el papel de El Mercurio durante el gobierno de la Unidad Popular en Chile (1970-1973)

Identifier:  TDX:2334

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2334

Authors:  Alvear López, Francisco Javier

Abstract:
It is often claimed that El Mercurio, the main newspaper in Chile, played a pivotal role in the overthrow of President Salvador Allende in 1973. The established view is that El Mercurio led a frontal attack against the Unidad Popular government and that this confrontation somehow triggered Allende’s downfall. This article re-examines these claims and questions their validity in the light of data which was previously overlooked. Instead, the authors suggest that El Mercurio rarely adopted an openly antagonistic position against Allende and his administration. Instead, what this newspaper did was to frame events so as to present the government as lacking control, while promoting a perception of widespread chaos due to the government’s actions and policies. In so doing, this news media outlet contributed to justifying the military coup but, contrary to popular wisdom, its role was far from crucial in the build-up towards the 1973coup. Our central thesis is that the newspaper utilised journalistic objectivity to advance its own political agenda and manipulate Chilean public opinion. The article is based on a longitudinal examination of newspaper archives and was carried out thanks to Erasmus funding for collaborative work.