Encuadres noticiosos del proceso electoral boliviano. Un análisis sobre los candidatos presidenciales

Bolivia lived in 2019 one of the most polarized presidential elections in its recent history. Evo Morales, current president, seeks his third reelection and will face an opposition that, centered on the figure of former president Carlos Mesa, seeks to change power relations in the country. Two antecedents make this process especially important: The Referendum of February 21, 2016, in which Bolivians denied the possibility of enabling Morales to re-election; on the other hand, the Constitutional Sentence 84/2017 that enabled the president to be a candidate. This deepened political polarization and showed the possibility that, in case Morales loses, a 13-year cycle of government would be closed. In this context, the role of the press, one of the main constructors of meanings in society, is important when thinking about information processes in an electoral process. Understanding how journalists build the various news discourses in a polarized social sphere is crucial to recognize what political perspectives are offered to audiences. For this, an analysis of the media treatment focused on the two central presidential candidates – Mesa and Morales – will be carried out. Based on the framing theory, which includes the news framing as a process of selection and differentiation of relevance of certain aspects of reality over others, two national media will be analyzed during the election campaign period.