In the first hours of the social protest that moved –and still moves– the entire country on Tuesday the 20th, it was very interesting to see how the journalistic coverage of the demonstrations, roadblocks and streets in Jujuy seemed to marginalize the already chronic rift between journalists and media. However, this sample of good practice – without setting aside personal positions – was diluted as the media recalculated based on their own interests and political alignments. Thus, a good opportunity was lost to exercise this trade properly. The good coverage by the movileros, who put their bodies dangerously, were subsumed under the interpretations of the conductors of television and radio programs (the graphic media only offered their views on Wednesday, although they advanced part of these positions on their web supports and portals news).
It is that covering this type of event, in which governments and protesters, police officers and civilians, and various politicians come face to face, is a complex task, which has given rise to the concern of international and sectoral organizations, which have tried to contribute elements for a better and more balanced journalistic task.
The Gabo Foundation’s Safe Ethics Network –one of the institutions that best deals with issues related to ontology in this profession– published a report prepared on the basis of opinions collected in its space, entitled How to report on social protests without stigmatizing to the protesters.
“The world protests,” says the work. The reasons are different. In Chile, the increase in the price of trips on the Santiago metro was the trigger. In Ecuador, the elimination of fuel subsidies. In Colombia, students defend their right to protest against corruption in the management of public universities. And so, thousands of people have also taken to the streets in countries like Argentina, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Mexico, and in regions as distant as Catalonia and Hong Kong. In several of these marches, protesters have attacked the press, which they blame for stigmatizing them by portraying them as destroyers of public property. This has generated tension between the media, which seeks to report on what happens in the demonstrations, and the leaders of these, who see journalists as enemies.
He cites the definition report by the US professor of international studies Arlene B. Tickner, who called attention to the need not to represent those who exercise their legitimate right to protest as hooligans. “Unfortunately,” Tickner wrote in a column for El Espectador de Colombia, “the stigmatization of protest will always be a temptation, especially in contexts of institutional weakness, government unpopularity, or social discontent, since it offers the opportunity to define it as a security issue and acting outside the ‘normal’ spaces of politics, under the pretext of preserving order”.
The Ethics Network raises some questions that it would be good for journalists who cover protests like the one in Jujuy to answer: “How to report when law enforcement goes too far in their way of repressing protesters? How can journalism help prevent social protests from turning violent? Does the press have a greater responsibility when reporting on protests in countries where democratic institutions are weak?
Different institutions and figures from Argentine public life have recently warned (in some cases, with apocalyptic omens) about the possible (perhaps not so probable) worsening of the situation, greater virulence of the protesters and consequent repression. It is the responsibility of those of us who carry out our journalistic work to minimize these black warnings in order to contribute to social peace, without abandoning legitimate convictions.