El papel de la radios populares en contextos de crisis política: el caso de Radio Fe y Alegría de Venezuela

Identifier:  TDX:3003

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3003

Authors:  Hernández Fernández, Alexander

Abstract:
The object of study of this thesis is the role of radio in political crises from the construction of informative discourse. The case that is analyzed is the information coverage made by Radio Fe y Alegría in Venezuela during the days of the 2002 coup crisis. We are interested in studying the coverage of this radio station in terms of the genres and journalistic formats put into practice by its journalists, the dynamics of production, the journalistic values and the contents transmitted by the radio, what is also called the journalistic culture. In this sense, we consider that Radio Fe y Alegría achieved to remain 'professionally autonomous' (Waisbord, 2013) in relation to its coverage of the facts and its identity with the postulates of popular communication that led it to structure its own agenda, promote the participation of the audience and of multiple actors of different political visions even in a time of crisis. However, as we have seen in this research, the 'professional autonomy' of the journalists of Radio Fe y Alegría was clearly exceptional because the rest of the Venezuelan media ecosystem was blurred during the crisis. During the events of 2002, the professional canons of Venezuelan journalism collapsed and, as Andrés Cañizales (2003a; 2003b) points out, the Venezuelan media will spend years having to justify to future generations the poor performance they showed during that period.