Allende's Influence on the Media Environment
At the outset of Allendes rise to
power, the Chilean media environment was anything but stable.
Allende could count on five daily newspapers to support him.
The Chilean government owned La Nation, which supported
whomever was in power (Buckman,
1996). The Communist party owned and operated El Siglo
and Ultime Hora was owned by Allendes Socialist
party. In addition, two sensationalistic tabloids, Clain
and Puro Chile supported the Allende regime. Each of
these media outlets was extremely leftist in their presentation
of the news and served primarily to communicate the official
voice of the government and to engender support for the government
from the citizenry.
Chile also boasted several media outlets
that doggedly opposed the governmental status quo. Among the
daily newspapers, El Mercurio and La Sugunda consistently
challenged the interpretation of news events from the papers
supporting the Allende regime. In addition, several sensationalistic
tabloids, most notably PEC and Sepa resorted to
personal attacks against Allende himself, portraying the president
as a drunkard and a womanizer (Buckman,
1996).
Allendes first action against the
freedom of the Chilean press took place one week after he was
placed in office. Establishing a commission to study press violations
that that seemed destined to result in the expropriation of
El Mercurio, Allende put political pressure on the papers
chairman, Augustín Edward. One day after the official
announcement, Edward resigned and disappeared into self-imposed
exile (Brett, 1998).
Four months later, Allende explained that the threat of expropriation
had been a misunderstanding.
However, this event was merely the beginning
of the persecution of El Mercurio by Allende. In early
1971, government tax inspectors raided the papers offices,
looking for proof to their claims that the paper owed several
thousand dollars in back taxes (Brett,
1998). Later that same year, the government police raided
the papers offices looking for illegal arms. Although
these charges were also eventually dropped, Allende continued
to use various branches of his government to harass the papers
personnel.
Frustrated by his inability to silence his
most prominent opposition, Allende next attacked the newspaper
industry as a whole. In order to gain economic control over
the press, Allendes government sought to nationalize the
newspaper industry (Sobel,
1981). During this period in Chiles media history,
only one company produced newsprint for all the outlets in Chile:
the Paper and Carton Manufacturing Company owned by Arturo Alessandri
(Sobel, 1981). Alessandri,
Allendes former political opponent, blocked Allendes
attempt to control the countrys paper supply. This action
caused Allende to respond by raising the prices of raw paper
supplies while freezing the prices of finished paper goods,
an obvious attempt to bankrupt the company (Sobel,
1981).
However, Alessandri held out, losing more
than $30 million in the process. By the time the government
was ready to acquire the company legally, those in opposition
to Allende had rallied to form the Freedom Fund to keep the
supply of paper free from government control (Sobel,
1981).
With his ambitions of industry control now
defunct, Allende resumed his legal persecution of the press
outlets that opposed him. Often following the appearance of
a particularly scathing criticism of the government in print,
the government would file a lawsuit against the offending paper
and jail the owners or editors (Buckman,
1996). At times, the government would resort to prior restraint
censorship, blocking articles it found "offensive."
However, all of Allendes efforts to
legally control the press ultimately failed. Particularly unsuccessful
were the financial tactics imposed by Allendes courts,
partially due to external funding from the U.S. According to
the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations
with Respect to Intelligence Activities, the CIA disbursed more
than $12 million on press intervention between 1963 and 1973
(Covert Action in Chile,
1975).
Introduction
Background
Allende's
Influence on the Media Environment
Pinochet's
Influence on the Media Environment
The Chilean
Press Under Civilian Democracy
Reference
List
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