Department of Social Research University of Helsinki Helsinki THE MEDIA IN THE CORE OF POLITICAL CONFLICT VENEZUELA DURING THE LAST YEARS OF HUGO CHÁVEZ’S PRESIDENCY Virpi Salojärvi ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in lecture room 5, University main building, on 17 September 2016, at 12 noon. Helsinki 2016 Publications of the )DFXOW\ of Social 6FLHQFHV 2016:23 Media and Communication Studies © Virpi Salojärvi Photo: Virpi Salojärvi, 2011 © Virpi Salojärvi Distribution and Sales: Unigrafia Bookstore http://kirjakauppa.unigrafia.fi/
[email protected] PL 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) 00014 Helsingin yliopisto ISSN 2343-273X (Print) ISSN 2343-2748 (Online) ISBN 978-951-51-1091-6 (Paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-1092-3 (PDF) Unigrafia, Helsinki, 2016 Abstract This dissertation investigates the role of media in political conflict during President Hugo Chávez’s administration (1999-2013). This conflict is under- stood as antagonism where the political opponent is seen as an enemy in- stead of a more equal adversary. In Venezuela, private media were powerful economic and political actors before Chávez’s era due to clientelistic tradi- tion. President Chávez questioned the neoliberal measures taken by previous governments and started to apply his politics of the “socialism of 21st centu- ry” in a manner that shaped his government’s media policies. Several private media outlets disagreed with his drastic measures and took them as an at- tack. Confrontation developed between the private media and state media sectors. This polarized situation offers an excellent case study to focus on the con- struction of hegemonies in a populist context, and the media’s role in it be- cause the society was penetrated by politics.