The influence of political actors on the media agenda: The case of Ecuador

Abstract

The arrival in the Government of Ecuador of Rafael Correa (Alianza País) in 2007 introduced some modifications that directly influence the configuration of the country's media system (Hallin and Mancini, 2004). Since then, the communication climate in Ecuador is marked by a confrontation between the president and the private media, which leads to high levels of polarization.This paper provides an approximation to the relationship between the Government and the media, based on the premise that, in the case of Ecuador, the first moment in the establishment of the agenda (McCombs, 2004) is determined by the political agenda, which can become a newsworthiness factor (Schulz, 1995). In order to do this, we conducted a content analysis of the Ecuadorian reference press (El Telégrafo -public- and El Comercio-private-) and put it in relation with the political agenda, which we will study through the "Enlaces Ciudadanos" (accountability  program of the Presidency of Ecuador) during the first semester of 2015. This analysis will allow us to identify the agendas of each one of the aforementioned actors and check if there is a relationship between them.