No 57 (2024): Government communication through spots in Latin America
Government communication is one of the political communication topics about which, arguably, the most has been written, and the one where the most principles, rules, and guiding criteria have been proposed. However, every day we encounter numerous examples from various countries, with governments of different ideologies, showing us again and again the same avoidable mistakes, as well as evidence of the high costs that these errors often represent for those involved.
In this issue of Más Poder Local, through a selection of curated works, we will explore different cases of successes and failures in current government communication. Similarities and differences in the strategies used to manage social media will be analysed, as well as the development of audiovisual and radio spots.
Angie González G. shows us how the narrative of the current president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, sought to bolster the national brand of Colombia. Andrea Ariza highlights the importance of the concept of “caste” in shaping both the campaign and government narrative of Argentina’s president, Javier Milei. María Gabriela Ortega Jarrín and Marta Escribano study the communication of Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, through an analysis of his official TikTok accounts.
Luciana Panke, Josemari Quevedo, and Ellen Joay worked on radio spots broadcast by the various ministries of the Brazilian government under President Lula. Ana Slimovich, from a sociosemiotic perspective, investigated the characteristics of government communication spots during the presidency of Argentina’s former president, Alberto Fernández (2019-2023). Leandro Bruni, Virginia García Beaudoux, and Orlando D’Adamo compare the use of disruptive and continuity-based presidential images in the political narratives of presidents Santiago Peña of Paraguay and Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala.
Both for the quality of the authors and the diversity of approaches employed and applied in different countries, this monograph will be of great value to all of us working in political communication.
Dr. Orlando D'Adamo
Coordinator of issue no. 57, July 2024.