Constructing (Il)Legitimate Democracy: Populism and Power Concentration in Newspaper Discourse on Venezuela

Abstract

Abstract:Despite scholarly consensus about the importance of the media for democracy, scant attention has been paid to what democracy means to journalistic discourse and how discourses on democracy are interrelated with legitimacy. The aim of this paper is to explore how (il)legitimate democracy is constructed in newspaper discourse. By using critical discourse analysis (CDA), this paper examines foreign news items about Venezuela, a country that under the presidency of Hugo Chávez has challenged the dominant global political and economic orders. The analysis section focuses on two discourses about the Venezuelan government: the constructions of populism and power concentration, which serve to mark deviance from what is perceived as a legitimate democracy. This paper argues that a liberal perception of democracy constitutes a central framework for the construction of (il)legitimate democracy, which is revealed not least by news discourse's focus on what is morally unacceptable political conduct according to liberal democratic norms. In this respect, the media discourse serves to denounce potential abuses of governmental power but fail to recognize democracy in the context of a social struggle against the effects of neoliberalism and capitalism. In this case, the news media is hegemonic in the Gramscian sense, because it provides a framework of democracy that remains within the dominant economic and political structures.Keywords: Democracy, Media, Discourse, Hegemony, Ideology, Legitimacy, Liberalism, Critical Discourse Analysis, Foreign News, Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my supervisors Leonor Camauër and Ulrika Olausson, as well as the two reviewers for insightful comments that helped me improve this paper.

Rifts in the Hegemony: Swedish News Journalism on Cannabis Legalization

“…Journalism constitutes an arena for hegemonic struggles to occur (Abalo 2014;Allan 1998), and the reporting of cannabis legalization is part of the struggle for (re)defining the meaning of cannabis. Journalism is set in a context of social change, something that can affect the choices of angles, sources and language in the creation of news on cannabis, which can affect the ascription of legitimacy to different perspectives on cannabis.…”

“…Journalism plays a key role in the process of cultural hegemonythe moral and intellectual leadership that leading social groups exercise (Gramsci 1971)by constructing reality in ways that affirm or challenge established values, norms and power relations in society (Abalo 2014;Allan 1998). This study seeks to understand the relationship between journalism and hegemony in times when hegemonic values are being severely challenged by studying the journalistic construction of the ongoing international renegotiation of psychoactive substances deriving from the cannabis plant (hereafter cannabis) as a case.…”

Untitled

“…Lazarsfeld and Merton (1974) suggested that one of the functions of mass media is to grant status to public issues and actors. That is, media help to legitimize and delegitimize certain structures and practices (Abalo, 2014). Legitimacy can be defined as the construction of something as "legally and morally acceptable" (Chouliaraki, 2005, p. 3).…”

Through eurocentric logics

“…Chávez's media policy has been characterized by attempts to combat oppositional media sources by exerting greater control over airwaves (Waisbord 2011) while increasing the supply of community media (Fernandes 2011). Furthermore, the opposition appears to be in an advantageous position compared to the government in foreign reporting representations of Venezuela, evidenced by constructions of the opposition as bringing national unity while the government is presented as authoritarian and polarizing (Abalo 2012(Abalo , 2014Salter and Weltman 2011).…”