Chapter 3: Peruvian media review

Statistics of media penetration

Numerical statistics on media presence can be obtained from the CIA World Factbook:

“Broadcast media: 10 major TV networks of which only one, Television Nacional de Peru, is state-owned; multi-channel cable TV services are available; in excess of 2,000 radio stations including a substantial number of indigenous language stations (2010)” (CIA)

According to the same source, Peru has about 9 million Internet users among its 30 million population.

A good analysis of usage of television in Peruvian political campaigns is presented by Taylor Boas (2005). He quotes some studies on spread of television and population’s reliance on it:

“Ninety-four percent of Peruvian residents and 91 percent of those in the next to-lowest socioeconomic bracket had a television at home as of 1997 (Nájar 1999, 360).

For nearly two-thirds of the population, television remains the medium most frequently consulted for information about current events, as well as the most credible source of information (Tanaka and Zárate 2002).” (Boas 2005)

As well, Boas’s study looks at comparative analysis of TV representation of different candidates in 2000 and 2001 elections. Given that most of TV channels in Peru are privately owned, their air time and image of the candidates can be biased towards the candidates who are closer to the owners of the channels, the social elites. That was the case in 2000 with the reelection of Fujimori who controlled most of the media and took over 80% of total air time. However, as he didn’t participate in 2001 elections, the TV channel owners were not as biased towards the favorite candidate and statistically gave almost equal coverage to the top three candidates (Boas 2005). Unfortunately, I didn’t find a more contemporary study.

There are a few studies of usage of Internet in Peru. Holmes (2001) provides an account of cabinas públicas – public access Internet outlets that contributed the most to the growth of Internet users population in Peru. A later study by Salzman and Albarran (2011) takes extensive use of Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) surveys data and gives more up-to-date figures for Internet usage in Peru. However, according to their figures, only about 27% of population uses Internet. Self-reported usage of Internet to read news in that study is 0.44 out of scale 0-3 (0 is never using, 3 is always using). Not surprisingly, there are positive correlations between general usage and news usage of Internet with such factors as wealth, bigger cities, higher education, general political knowledge and interest and consumption of other news media. There is a slight negative correlation of Internet news reading with trust in other media.

Given this landscape of media usage the most effective mass media for political campaigning is television. It’s been successfully utilized in the successful presidential campaigns, as detailed in Boas (2005). The same study also tells of extensive usage of types of campaigning less mediated by technology, namely personal visits of the candidates to target populations and mass meetings.

Past presidential campaign review

After the fall of fujimorismo throughout the 2000s Peru has been undergoing a rapid economic growth accompanied by big social discontent. There is still a big inequality of political representation and economical redistribution in the country.

The era of Fujimori was marked by an autocratic regime that suppressed the spectrum of political parties. Many studies (e.g. Tanaka 2011) say that Peru almost lacks the party structure, discipline and continuity. Political parties act as institutions secondary to the immediate presidential candidate and do not get robust support. In fact, Peruvians do not trust in politicians. According to Dennison (2011), only 14% of Peruvians trust Congress, which is close to the figure of 16% for stability of democracy provided by LAPOP (2012).

In this case the politicians win elections by appealing to the immediate concerns of the population rather than by appealing to continuity and identity.

Tanaka (2011) presents an almost ironic paradox that “Analysts felt baffled that despite Peru’s steady progress since the 2000 fall from power of Alberto Fujimori (Keiko’s father) amid massive antiauthoritarian and anticorruption protests, voters’ top two choices for president were an antisystem outsider and the daughter of the disgraced former president.”

Tanaka analyzes the two post-Fujimori presidential terms of Toledo and García to conclude that despite the steady economic growth, those governments were mostly preoccupied with immediate concerns and never allowed a steady party system to develop (2011).

Tanaka further goes on to compare the two elections of Ollanta Humala – 2006 lost to Alan García and 2011 won against Keiko Fujimori. In both cases Humala won by gaining support of impoverished, rural, indigenous parts of the population – correlation of his supporters in two elections is cited to be at 80%. However, two different strategies were used, so this repetition cannot be explained by continuity and allegiance of the voters. In fact, Humala’s support was very low in the polls a few months before the 2011 elections.

Dennison (2011) explains the difference of Humala’s strategy in difference of his role model. In 2006 campaign he used the direct support of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and claimed radical left ideology. But a few months before the 2011 election he changed his course to align with the popular ex-president of Brazil Luis Inácio Lula de Silva, as well as shifting political and economic ideology much closer to the center (Dennison 2011).

Tanaka (2011) says that with weak party structure the Peruvian electorate is only fragmented into social and geographical parts, as opposed to partisan. The key to victory is the correct appeal to this fragmented structure. Tanaka says that Humala correctly used the polls showing that people were generally more content with the economic course in 2011, and he came forward with mild reforms, as opposed to the radical revamp proposals of 2006. As well, assembling his cabinet of ministers, Humala relied on more experience centrist people from Toledo administration.

Media outlets headlines March-April 2014

This review is a summary of recurrent topics that appeared in the electronic version of La República, one of the biggest Peruvian newspapers. I reviewed the section of political news (http://www.larepublica.pe/politica) which has on the order of 20 entries per day. It is easy to identify the recurring themes of the last month and find connections between them. A few of the themes are big scandals or court cases which were given personal names, e.g. “Caso La Centralita”. I’ve identified the following themes, with no particular order:

• Peru is preparing for the local-level elections in October 2014. They are not as important for the global political course as the presidential and congressional elections, but utilize the same mechanics and technologies, as well as have the same set of parties competing. The actions of ONPE (Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales) get into the news headlines. For example, it requested the running parties to provide detailed reports on their sources of funding. There are proposals to update Ley de Partidos Públicos of 2004 to require even stricter reports on funding reporting. ONPE warns that narcotraffic money can be used in political campaigns and wants to control that. ONPE is also reporting on the progress in installing hardware for electronic voting to prevent voting fraud and allow faster counting. In October 2014 elections electronic voting would only be available in a few districts, but the intention is to switch the whole country to that technology.

• Another big debate rose around the proposed project of Ley Servir (http://www.servir.gob.pe/leyserviciocivil/) which is intended to regulate government employees. The biggest controversy arises from the fact that it also applies to the employees of the judicial branch of power. The justices of the Tribunal Constitucional (TC) argue that this law would violate the independence of the branches of government. A number of justices went on strike to protest the law, slowing down several big court processes. TC hasn’t had a full session since December 2013. Some of the affected big court cases are listed below.

• Caso Áncash – there is an ongoing crisis of organized crime and corruption in Áncash, one of Peru’s provinces. There are accusations that crime is being covered by the local government in place, and a few candidates planning to run in October are getting threats. It’s been reported that some of the materials of investigation were burned during the judges’ strike.

• Caso La Centralita – part of evidence for investigation of Áncash was obtained through interception of phone calls. Discovery of the hub of surveillance in a house in Áncash that came to be known under the name La Centralita produced a scandal of its own. There were further news about possible other hubs for surveillance of the local government.

• There is talk about revising the transit laws, as apparently there is a significant disorganization of transportation laws and law enforcement in different regions of the country.

• There is a number of cases of illegal mining of gold and other resources on Peruvian territory. Part of mining is even conducted by amateurs rather than big corporations, some other part conducted with violations of the regulations. A number of cases of usage of illicit chemicals were discovered. Executive and legislative branches of power are discussing the new legal measures to regulate mining industry.

• Caso Movadef (Movimiento por Amnistia y Derechos Fundamentales) – this movement has gathered sufficient amount of signatures to be registered as a political party, but it’s registration was not approved by JNE repeatedly. Allegedly, Movadef consists of members of Shining Path – a terrorist communist organization active since 1980s. Within last few months, a number of leaders of Movadef were arrested by the government, including a nephew of the President Ollanta Humala. The organization is accused in promotion of the same ideas as Shining Path. At the same time, Movadef accuses the government in creating censorship and restricting their democratic right to run in elections.

• The maritime dispute between Peru and Chile is currently investigated by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Peruvian media widely publicize all new facts of the case, but the decisions have not yet been made.

• There is a corruption scandal associated with La Universidad Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, where a big part of university funds was used for private purchases by university high officials. Associated with the case are proposals to review Ley Universitaria.

• The second presidential term of Alan García Pérez (2006-2011) is investigated for a number of corruption cases. One of the cases is Caso Petroaudios, on the illegal petrol deals with Norway. Another is an investigation of premature pardoning of a number of criminals committed for narcobusiness. At some point the Congress formed a commission that came to be known as Megacomision to investigate in detail the chronicles of the second term of García. The news pages show a lot of mutual accusations between Alan García and his party Apra and the current government of Ollanta Humala and Gana Perú.

• Caso Diarios Chicha – the investigation and trial of the former president Alberto Fujimori on a number of human rights abuse, power abuse, embezzlement and corruption charges is still ongoing. Fujimori in his public speeches attempts to justify his auto-coup of 1992. The situation in Áncash are quoted to be similar to Fujimori times.

As it is visible from this review, the problem publicly perceived as the biggest is corruption on a variety of levels. The promise to clean out corruption, revise the institutional laws and finish trials and if possible conduct restitutions of crimes of former high officials is relevant to the public opinion. At the same time, such promise is not too hard to be crafted into a simpler message.

Campaign focus

The analysis of the past campaigns and the media suggests the target audience, the support of which has previously defined the victories of the candidates. It is the highly volatile and vulnerable population of mostly rural areas, likely of low education level, poor and indigenous.

At the same time, the review of the headlines suggests that instability and corruption are the most discussed problems in Peru. I propose the focus of the campaign to be on cleaning out corruption, further formalizing the laws and the state control of the range of enterprises from mining to transit police to universities. The exact message and presentation of it are formulated in the next chapter. It should focus on protecting the vulnerable social class while strengthening the institutions of the country.

References

1. “The World Factbook: Peru”, Central Intelligence Agency, accessed April 27, 2014, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pe.html

2. Boas, Taylor C., “Television and Neopopulism in Latin America: Media Effects in Brazil and Peru”, Latin American Research Review 40.2 (2005) 27-49

3. Holmes, Victoria, “The Internet, inequality and exclusion in Peru: the social impact of the cabinas públicas”, University of London (2001), http://ru.www.gci275.com/archive/victoriaholmescabinas.pdf

4. Salzman, Ryan and Albarran, Alan B, “Internet Use in Latin America”, Palabra Clave, Volumen 14 Número 2 (Diciembre de 2011)

5. Dennison, Clayton, “Humala Wins Peruvian Presidency: A Review & Prognosis”, university of Calgary, July 2011, http://larc.ucalgary.ca/sites/larc.ucalgary.ca/files/in_Peru_A_Review__Prognosis_Clayton_Dennison.pdf

6. Tanaka, Martín, “A Vote for Moderate Change”, Journal of Democracy, Volume 22, Number 4, October 2011, pp. 75-83