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Television and Neopopulism in Latin America: Media Effects in Brazil and Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Taylor C. Boas
Taylor C. Boas*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

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Several Latin American countries have experienced the emergence of neopopulist politicians who eschew ties to traditional parties and orient their campaigns toward the atomized poor. This article examines the role of television in the electoral success of these politicians. Using survey data, I assess the impact of television exposure on vote choice in the 1989 election of Fernando Collor de Mello in Brazil, the 2000 election of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and the 2001 election of Alejandro Toledo in Peru. These cases achieve variation on two predictors of media effects: the presence of a neopopulist outsider and biased television coverage of the campaign. Statistical analysis confirms our theoretical expectations of media effects in the first two elections (where coverage was biased) but not in the third. These findings suggest that bias is the more reliable predictor of television's impact on Latin American presidential elections, rather than the presence of a neopopulist candidate.

Resumen

Resumen

Varios países latinoamericanos han experimentado el surgimiento de políticos neopopulistas que evaden conexión alguna con los partidos tradicionales y orientan sus campañas hacia poblaciones pobres, no organizadas. Este artículo examina el rol de la televisión en el éxito electoral de dichos políticos. En base a resultados de encuestas se determina el efecto de la cobertura televisiva en la definición del voto en la elección de Fernando Collor de Mello en Brasil en 1989, Alberto Fujimori en Perú en 2000, y Alejandro Toledo en Perú en 2001. Estos casos varían con respecto a dos variables indicativas de efectos mediáticos: la presencia de un candidato neopopulista independiente y una cobertura televisiva sesgada de la campaña electoral. Análisis estadísticos confirman las expectativas teóricas sobre efectos mediáticos en las dos primeras elecciones, donde la cobertura fue sesgada, pero no en la tercera. Este hallazgo sugiere que la cobertura sesgada, y no la presencia de un candidato neopopulista, es la variable indicativa más confiable de un efecto televisivo en las elecciones presidenciales latinoamericanas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 27 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

I am particularly grateful to Ruth Berins Collier for multiple rounds of comments on earlier versions of this article. Others who provided helpful feedback include David Collier, Chappell Lawson, Mary Sprague, Laura Stoker, participants in the University of California, Berkeley Latin American politics research seminar, and three anonymous LARR reviewers. Acquisition of data was facilitated by Sandro Macassi of the Asociación de Comunicadores Sociales Calandria and Patricia Zarate of the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (both in Lima, Peru) and the CIRELA Project and UCDATA at the University of California, Berkeley. The research for this article was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

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