Immediacy: In their routine travel through Guayaquil
to cover any important event, a team of reporters from
the newspaper ‘El Universo’intercept in the police’s radio
frequency a notice of an assault in a pharmacy. Rafael
Hernández (reporter) and Martín Herrera (camera) are the
first journalists to arrive at the scene.
Dramatisation: Dolores Guerra recognizes her
husband in the photo published. ‘El Universo’ became the
space in which to present the public’s claims and
demands. The newspaper utilises wordplay to make the
widows the protagonists of a personal drama, associating
their names (‘Dolores’ meaning pain) with their agonising
situation.
Personalisation: Most of the news is of the
sensational type due to a process of humanization, where
the construction of characters to whom stories full of
drama are attributed is prioritized.
This explains the irresponsibility of the journalist and the
newspaper, since the use of direct testimony led to the
distortion of what the sources say.
Simplification: This is a way to "side with the
people." The causes that were not considered as facts
were discarded by the impelling need to stay in the
present.
The case is narrated in a Manichean way so that it can be
published by determining that there are good versus bad,
in a restricted way. This facilitates the assignment of guilt
by the readers consolidation of stereotypes.
Titillation: ‘El Universo’ is sensational in nature and
magnifies the facts with the sole purpose of selling more,
exalting the truth. Despite the fact that the mayor of
Guayaquil made a statement against the criminals of
Peruvian nationality, ‘El Universo’ focused on exalting the
dramatic events and published photos to the point of
going gore – leaving behind a socio-political theme.
Novelty: At first the newspaper assumes a police tone
with which it questions the Police (“The Police does not
clarify questions about the Fybeca case”, 23 Nov.), then
the news takes a turn and begins to establish as a topic
the frontal defence of the widows (illustration: front-page
photo of Andrade's daughter, Nov. 26) So, the tone did not
persist in the texts of the front pages.
CONVENTIONALISM: There are a total of 130
articles (in 2003 and 2004) between November 20 and
July 5.
This type of violence, as it is represented by the media, is
an exacerbation of the accident. It is like a consequence
directly derived from the informative logic: its inevitable
and unquestionable part, that is to say something that is
left over, of which we no longer know what to do, or what
to say, which is difficult to assume as good news value.
STRUCTURED ACCESS: Of the 20 headlines,
40% are focused in the first ten days (of the event), which
represents a strong initial commitment to a story that
from the beginning it had helped to generate. This
intensity will be diluted in the coming months, with a
partial rebound in April, a month in which threats are
made to journalists and that lead to an increase in news in
the Events section (the most important and yellowish back
cover of the newspaper).
The journalist is forced to select a language that is
FYBEC
A
CASE
EVENTS
On the morning of November 19, 2003, an assault in
progress was reported at a branch of the Fybeca
pharmacies, located north of Guayaquil. According to the
police, it led to a confrontation between police and
criminals, resulting in the death of eight criminals and
the arrest of several people. Within the crime scene,
pistols, machine guns and even hand grenades were
collected as evidence. The operation was led by police
major Eduardo González.
DISAPPEARANCES
As the result of the assault was known, Dolores Briones
explained that her husband Guime Córdova - who was
killed during the shooting - was a messenger from the
pharmacy, while Dolores Vélez accused the police of the
death of her husband Carlos Andrade, a client. The case
of Johnny Gómez Balda was denounced two days later,
when the newspaper El Universo published a photograph
of whom, according to the version of his wife, Mrs.
Dolores Guerra, had been arrested after the assault
without his whereabouts being known again. César Mata
Valenzuela, Erwin Vivar Palma and Seidy Vélez were also
captured, however, only the latter appeared at the
Prosecutor's Office to give her version of the events, the
others were declared fugitives.
News value: