Media and Crime in Argentina: Punitive Discourse During the 1990s

Despite the significant scholarly interest in the United States and Europe in the last Argentinean dictatorship (1976-1983), little attention has been paid to the role of Argentinean newspapers in supporting the military coup d’état. The analysis of this media discourse is critical to understanding the support enjoyed by the armed forces in power: the vast majority of the population was not informed about the disappearances or the concentration camps until well into the 1980s. This project provides an in-depth qualitative content analysis of front pages, chronicles, editorials and photographs of Argentinean newspapers before and after the military intervention that will aid scholars of criminal justice and Latin American political regimes understand the impact of the support given to the military government.