The “people's communicators”: propaganda is not the same as journalism

The Q4 government confuses political communication with journalism. It is true, the boundaries between one and the other are not always clear. To come to power and know how to lead a community, it is necessary to have information, dissemination networks and information skills. Knowing how to communicate is vital to govern. Journalism, for its part, seeks to inform truthfully. By definition it's awkward. Its task is to point out, question, challenge constituted power. Make your criticism, point out your mistakes and report the excesses.

In this sense, political communication is, at least in principle, different from journalistic communication, even if they run in parallel. Of course, journalism does not always abstain from politics. There are porosities immanent to the profession of reporting and the art of governing. No one can deny that there are media that have bet on power. They have been the centerpiece in the scaffolding of government, in the transmission of propaganda and in the concealment of palatial errors.

Nowadays, however, bias generates ever higher costs. Citizens are increasingly critical, reflective and more freely exercising the choice of their media.

The most delicate problem occurs when political communication is made from power and is presented as journalistic information.

Recently, senators and deputies of the official National Regeneration Movement (Morena) announced the creation of the “Network of People's Communicators”. The project consists of a civil association that integrates more than “500 communicators” throughout the country. The mission of this group is twofold. The first is to document and denounce the alleged sabotage carried out by the authorities of the National Electoral Institute (INE) against the revocation of the mandate to be held on April 10. The second is to spread the achievements of the Fourth Transformation.

One cannot but wonder what is behind such an announcement. In other words, if it were really a question of reporting on the achievements of Q4, there would be no need for a civil partnership. For this, the Mexican government has a formidable social communication apparatus, inherited from the PRI and PAN regimes, which can well communicate about government actions, public policies, achievements and successes. Obviously, that's not the point. On the other hand, the People's Communicators Network also does not seek to report truthfully on political events. His mark is not to practice journalism. In fact, if that were the case, it would be a contradiction because there is no journalism that is exercised from power.

What is truly behind the “Network of People's Communicators” is a political propaganda project. As if morning conferences and political communication from the presidential pulpit were not enough, we now seek to build a vertical structure, from the peak of power, to the social base, to reproduce the presidential speech. That is the real goal.

Now, here it is necessary to be very clear. If Morena's structure believes it necessary to invest time and resources in building a propaganda structure—time and resources they could use to legislate—citizens will have to call them to account in the next elections.

Here, two substantive issues, both of them more than worrying.

On the one hand, since the beginning of Q4, there has been a hostile and widespread mood in the country against the press. From the presidential pulpit the public derision of communicators is continually made, journalistic consortia are stigmatized and the office is denigrated. It doesn't matter if it's a journalist covering the source, or an editorial emporium.

On social networks, the expletive and veiled threat against communicators replace argument and reasoned criticism. This is not a discussion — let alone public conversation — but about eliminating, at least symbolically, the other.

However, what is critical is that the violence of words is accompanied by the violence of shrapnel. Never as in this six-year term have murders against journalists occurred so daily. By March 2022, there were already eight journalists killed. A figure that does not show a downward trend, despite the fact that journalists constantly complain about the conditions of insecurity in which they carry out their trade. All this is happening, moreover, in the midst of an atmosphere of total impunity.

On the other hand, the diagnosis and remedy of Q4 on journalism in Mexico is wrong. Today, there is no longer a need for a single voice to communicate, let alone if this voice comes from power. In modern societies, the digital revolution and social networks have allowed journalism to diversify. Today there is no longer a single place of enunciation. What is experienced is the explosion of a wide and diverse myriad of voices. A plural, heterogeneous and if you like chaotic choir in which everyone speaks. It is true that there are still structural inequalities that limit certain voices and overexpose others, but the truth is that public opinion will no longer be one-dimensional, but plural. Today we are all the communicators of the people.

The announcement of the creation of a “Network of People's Communicators” adds to the atmosphere of persecution and condemnation against the press in Mexico. It seeks to draw a line between the real communicators, who are with the people, of the false journalists, who have sold themselves to the mafias of power. In that sense, Q4 is wrong again. Not only has it waived its obligation to provide physical protection to journalists and to ensure the exercise of the trade, but it continues to undermine institutional and legal guarantees that ultimately guarantee freedom of expression.

* Edgar Guerra is a Professor-Researcher in the CIDE Drug Policy Program at its Central Region headquarters.