Hugo Chavez

Jules Boykoff published an analysis paper on how Hugo Chavez was represented on the United States media, in his article “Hugo Chavez and the U.S media”. He states the Hugo Chavez was represent in four different frames. A frame is a “persistent pattern of selection and emphasis that structure not only what becomes news, but also prime us for how we think about the news”(Boykoff). He found out that the US prestige press, which includes the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, “adopted four dominant frames: the Dictator Frame, the Castro Disciple Frame, the Declining Economy Frame, and the Meddler-in-the-Region Frame.” These frames were aimed at Hugo Chavez, to give him a negative media representation in America, especially during the Bush administration.

Boykoff analysis is based on 979 articles from the year 1998-2007. Within those times, “Hugo Chavez had won three presidential elections” (Boykoff), yet newspapers called Hugo Chavez a dictator. A dictator is a ruler with absolute power. Mentioning that Chavez had won presidential elections, contradicts with the what newspaper report. Elections are won by the majority of the votes, which comes from the people not by a ruler. Boykoff representation of Chavez is the opposite of what newspaper represent, where Chavez is not a dictator rather a leader selected from his people. Boykoff states that the dictator frame was the most dominant frame amongst the other frames, with “53.4% of all articles framing Chavez as a dictator.” This representation of Chavez being a dictator not only occurred in newspapers, but also on national television. Oliver Stone directed the 2009 documentary film South Of The Border, where he tries to bring awareness to his audience, o...

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... was not the best person on Earth, nor was he the worst person as portrayed in the news. The same type of repetition and emphasizing could have been done to portray Hugo Chavez as the greatest leader in the world. If Hugo Chavez actions and objectives were more publicize, then his representation in the media would not have been a evil dictator who is against the U.S, rather it would be man who wanted to help the poor and tried to find peace within nations. Stone states that “the changes that occurred in Venezuela reflect the true spirit of the country’s people. Venezuela was ranked 7.6 on a scale of 1 to 10, in the level of democracy. They placed their democracy higher than any other Latin American.” Stone, Scott, Boykoff, Sheehan, and Dwyer represent Hugo Chavez as a victim of media corruption, but a fighter for still succeeding while being targeted.