Discursos periodísticos de la represión estatal en Colombia y México, 1968-1982. Un estudio comparativo

This article analyzes the role of the political press in the construction of public opinion during the processes of state repression in Mexico and Colombia between 1968 and 1982. Its objective is to analyze the types of discourses through which the major political press influenced the way in which readers interpreted the dynamics of state repression in both countries. A historical-comparative analysis of two cases is carried out to review the journalistic positions of the primary sources, in this case, the newspapers Excélsior, El Sol de México, El Informador, El Tiempo, El Siglo, El Espectador and La República. The results reveal that the press promoted seven main discourses on state repression: 1) youth and university co-optation, 2) public order violated, 3) subversion and terrorism, 4) institutions, security and the state, 5) the external enemy, 6) human rights as a violation of national sovereignty and 7) the press as a guarantor of public opinion. These discourses positioned newspapers as actors in the political contest and in the construction of public opinion in the context of recent history.