Environmental inequality and communicational inequality. The covers of El Mercurio de Valparaíso on the oil spill in Quintero Bay

Authors

  • Javiera Carmona Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile
  • Melisa Jaimes Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.36.734

Keywords:

Verbal visual analysis, covers, oil spill, El Mercurio de Valparaíso, local press, environmental conflict, environmental inequality, communicational inequality

Abstract

The oil spill in September 2014 in Quintero Bay (Valparaíso, Chile) attracted the national and local media attention by the large amount of dispersed oil. This disaster occurred in a highly polluted city, scenery of several catastrophic environmental events. The covers or front pages of the local newspaper El Mercurio de Valparaíso were analyzed, confirming Chilean media trend to cover environmental issues as conflicts where the environmental aspects are ousted by judicial contents. By this omission of the environmental perspectives when informing about the oil spill – an approach related to Quintero-Puchuncaví environmental social inequity – the newspaper leaves it out of the local public sphere, thus fostering communicational inequality

Author Biographies

Javiera Carmona, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile

Master in Archaeology and Ph.D. in History, both from the Universidad de Chile. She is academic and researcher at the Universidad de Playa Ancha (Valparaíso) at the Observatory of Social Participation and Territory of the Faculty of Social Sciences. She lectures in undergraduate and postgraduate and has several publications in the field of culture, heritage and science communication.

Melisa Jaimes, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile

Historian from the Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, doing a Master in Art, with mention on Heritage, at the Universidad de Playa Ancha and is a member of the Observatory of Social Participation and Territory of the same university. She has dedicated to the investigation of the local historical memory as well as the elaboration of social projects with children, youth and adult.

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Published

2015-06-30

How to Cite

Carmona, J., & Jaimes, M. (2015). Environmental inequality and communicational inequality. The covers of El Mercurio de Valparaíso on the oil spill in Quintero Bay. Cuadernos.Info, (36), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.36.734

Issue

No. 36 (2015): Dossier: Comunicación y desigualdad: la centralidad de los medios en la lucha por el reconocimiento

Section

MAIN TOPIC