Clashing Powers in Bolivia: The Tensions Between Evo Morales’s Government and the Private Media

Abstract

On the evening of December 9, 2008, Bolivian President Evo Morales used a ceremony to commemorate the International Day Against Corruption as a platform to publicly accuse the national newspaper La Prensa of lying. During the event, the president rebuked the invited representative journalist of the newspaper on national public TV broadcast. The president’s reaction was in response to allegations in the reporter’s paper. That morning La Prensa had titled its headline ‘Evo authorized “green light” to smugglers two months ago’ — therewith directly involving the president in a notorious smuggling case with extensive news coverage that occurred in the border town of Cobija.¹ In spite of this grievous phrasing, the president’s involvement was not proved in the article. In the following days, the reactions polarized Bolivian public opinion. Many journalists, union leaders, communicators, and media entrepreneurs condemned the public humiliation suffered by the journalist. Some politicians and a few other journalists in La Paz questioned the newspaper’s editorial line of accusing the president without proper evidence.