Dispatches International
THE RED CHRONICLES: VIOLENCE AND MASS MEDIA IN ECUADOR
Roberto Bravo Freire “P
eople think that we sometimes exagger- ate some details, but
it does not happen. We really investigate the facts and report them ethically,” says Oscar Reyes, a journalist who works at El Extra. His publication, a tabloid daily available in every major city, is the most widely read newspaper in Ecuador.
articles are frequently about violent events such as, mur- ders, rapes, and sexual attacks. Sensationalist publications like El Extra, which strive to offer detailed news about violent events, are known as the “red chronicles.” “Obviously, some things
that we write could be consid- ered ‘morbid’ by some people,” admits Reyes, referring to the fact that his publication has been criticized for glorifying the gore associated with vio- lent crimes. “But those people do not know that murders and robberies are common in the poor places of Ecuador.” The red chronicles are
60 South America: Ecuador Its
known to encourage journal- ists to reveal every detail of a crime, so that readers can know exactly how a person was attacked. The goal of each ar- ticle is not to amuse or enlight- en readers, but to hold them in rapture. Articles in the red chronicles frequently contain photographs of raped bodies and corpses. But Reyes claims that he
is just reporting on important events that people would rath- er not talk about. “The mass media reproduces violence in some way. But violence is a structural problem of society,” he says. “A violent society has to reproduce violent models through the red chronicles.” What is the social im-
pact of publications that rely on macabre reporting? Edison Palomeque refers in his book Diagnóstico Sobre Seguridad Ciudadana En El Ecuador to a recent investigation about vi- olence and insecurity by the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales of Ecuador.
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