Análisis de datos

The frequencies of this motive category in the samples are relatively similar, being slightly more frequent in the CON sample (6.68%) than in ALT (6.48%). This similarity suggests that representing students as gathering or increasing popular support is an unproblematic issue for both media. Increasing support is not ideologically detrimental to the positive representation of the government nor does it affect the patterns of negative representation of the students in the mainstream press. On the other hand, it shows that there are other motives that are more important in the alternative press, while still foregrounding positive actions undertaken by the students.

This motive category comprises all those instances in which actors were represented as supporting someone else (mostly the student movement) and those actions that aimed at disseminating what the student movement’s demands were really about. In the

mainstream press, there are only three actors who are represented and/or have this motive attributed to them: the political opposition (5); the students’ parents (1), and the students (18). Their representation tends to be positive, whether this is attributed by the students themselves or the newspapers:

(25) LUN_2011_222_02Sept_176.txt Estuvieron lejos de ser los más de 40 mil

confirmados en Facebook para el evento, pero a las casi dos mil almas fanáticas[WHOSE] _{del calugazo no}

les faltó empeño(MA1.1) _para(ML) _{apoyar al}

movimiento estudiantil(M)_{, a pura lengua}(MA1.2)_.

[Newspaper].

Far from being the more than 40 thousand that had confirmed the event on Facebook, but anyway the almost two thousand souls[WHOSE] _{dedicated to}

kissing compensated for it(MA1.1) _by(ML) _supporting

the student movement(M)_{, with their}

tongues(MA1.2)_{. [Newspaper].}

(26) EM_2011_04_junio.txt

Intentando dejar atrás lo ocurrido hace una semana -cuando la toma del establecimiento terminó con estudiantes detenidos y millonarios daños-, los alumnos del Liceo Barros Borgoño[WHOSE] _llenaron

Trying to leave what happened last week behind – when the school occupation ended with detained students and costly damage- the students of Barros Borgoño high school[WHOSE] _{covered the front of}

148

de peluches el frontis del recinto(MA)_{. Según el}

presidente del Centro de Alumnos, Alexis Araya, *la idea fue(ML)_{"dar a conocer a la opinión}

pública que no somos vándalos ni unos delincuentes(M)_{, como fuimos catalogados. Aún}

somos niños, somos jóvenes en proceso de formación y somos pacíficos". [Student movement].

the buildingwith stuffed animals(MA)_{. According to}

the President of the Student Union, Alexis Araya, *the idea was to(ML) _{“let public opinion know}

that we are not vandals nor criminals(M)_{, as we}

have been categorized. We are still children, we are young in the process of formation and pacifists”. [Student movement].

Both examples focus on explaining the students’ actions as a way of gathering support through activities (25) or through symbolic acts aiming at cleaning up their image in society (26). In (25), the action (a kiss-athon) is described in an informal register which seems oblivious to the real reasons for choosing kissing as a means for demonstrating (i.e. the call highlighted positive emotions (love) to counteract the criminalization they are usually associated with). The meaningful action at the end of the report (i.e. “a pura lengua” [with their tongues]) trivializes the students’ action by framing them as being almost hormone-driven. Interestingly, despite the positive representation, their actions are still undermined by contrasting the number of people who confirmed their attendance on Facebook with the actual number that showed up. Similarly, despite the students trying to subvert the negative stereotypes associated with them in (26), their positive motive is contrasted with the destruction they allegedly carried out in their occupied school a week earlier. This challenge to negative stereotypes is realized through the inclusion of their own voices (direct speech), in which the students voice their discontent about being identified as vandals and criminals, highlighting their age and innocent nature (i.e. symbolized by stuffed animals).

Similar to CON, this motive is most frequently used to represent (and attribute motives to) the students (18), followed by ordinary people (2), educational institutions (1) and the political opposition (1). Regardless of whose motive, the newspaper positively portrays these actors and their motives as a way to show how popular the movement is. This positive representation of the student movement also aims at legitimizing their cause as well as a strategy to highlight the low popular support the Piñera administration had

149 during his whole administration11_{. Their actions are thus oriented to the gathering of as}

many people as possible in their demonstrations:

(27) EC_2012_66_22August.txt Titelman señaló a los periodistas que la

“cicletada”(MA) _{forma parte de un conjunto de ideas}

que quieren imponer los universitarios[WHOSE] _“con

el fin de(ML) _{atraer a todas las personas, jóvenes,}

mayores y a la familia, a manifestarse con alegría junto a nosotros” (M)_{. [Student}

movement].

Titelman [student leader] pointed out to reporters that the “bike-athon”(MA) _{is part of a group of ideas}

that university students[WHOSE] _{want to bring in “in}

order to(ML) _{attract everyone, the young and the}

old and families to protest joyfully with us” (M)_.

[Student movement].

The example contains a list of different categorization strategies appealing to different roles in society, namely, youth, the elderly, families and children. The inclusion of this diverse range of roles serves two purposes: it helps them 1) exemplify how transversal their support is and 2) distance themselves from the criminalizing narrative used in the traditional press. This strategy is enhanced by mentioning “joyful demonstration” as part of the “cicletada” [bike-athon]. The relational identifications with which these actors are represented evoke positive connotations (e.g. family) and, more importantly, the

collectives’ role in society is remotely associated to violence and/or social disobedience. In all, the more varied participation is, the more legitimate it is as the different groups taken together make up an alleged majority.