The process of spectacularization of violence in Colombia. A tool in the construction of fear1

El proceso de espectacularización de la violencia en Colombia. Una herramienta en la construcción del miedo

1 Research funded by the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá Colombia.

doxa.comunicación | 27, pp. 99-120 | 99

July-December of 2018

ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978

How to cite this article:

Córdoba Laguna, J. C. (2018). The process of spectacularization of violence in Colombia. A tool in the construction of fear. Doxa Comunicación, 27, pp. 99-120.

https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n27a5

Juan Carlos Córdoba Laguna. A Social Communicator and Journalist at the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá. Doctor in Communication and Culture from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He has a master’s in communication and Culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro-Brazil and is a specialist in Communication and Image Theories from the Federal University of Ceará-Brazil. He is a professor who has developed projects linked to research groups in Colombia, Brazil, and Portugal. He has had articles published on the topics of urban imaginaries and media violence.

University Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia

[email protected]

ORCID:0000-0003-3777-2410

Abstract:

Local mass media developed technical mechanisms and conceptual strategies, such as spectacularisation or major spectacle as a result of the armed conflict in Columbia, allowing them to grow as relevant media companies. This article is derived from the doctoral thesis “The Media Meta-narrative of violence in Colombia: its spectacuralisation in a culture of fear,” in which a chronological documentary monitoring local media is made from the 50s by using variables such as historical facts and the description of its respective treatment. The iconicity that the spectacular images from the Colombian conflict have gained have served the ideological and economic intentions of the mass media and their fixation on individual and collective imaginaries.

Keywords:

Entertainment; mass media; Colombian conflict; imaginary.

Resumen:

Como consecuencia del conflicto armado en Colombia, los medios de comunicación locales desarrollaron mecanismos técnicos y es-trategias conceptuales, como la espectacularización, que les permi-tieron crecer como empresas mediáticas; este artículo se desprende de la tesis doctoral: “El metarrelato mediático de la violencia en Co-lombia: su espectacularización en una cultura del miedo”, en donde se hace un seguimiento documental cronológico de los medios lo-cales, desde la década de los cincuenta, con la descripción histórica y el análisis de su tratamiento. La iconicidad que han alcanzado las imágenes espectaculares del conflicto colombiano ha servido a las intencionalidades ideológicas y económicas de los medios y a su fijación en los imaginarios individuales y colectivos.

Keywords:

Espectáculo; medios de comunicación; conflicto colombiano; imaginarios.

Received: 18/09/2018 - Accepted: 17/11/2018

Recibido: 18/09/2018 - Aceptado: 17/11/2018