Premier Klein’s Paper on Chile

 

Allende, Pinochet and the Chilean Media

The year was 1973, the date September 11. Although I cannot remember specifically what was happening in the newsroom at CFCN radio and television, it was no doubt a typical day. The morning radio news reader, Ross Author, was finishing his shift after reading the morning news starting at 5:00 a.m., which included the major wheat pool newscast at 8:00 a.m. followed by the major noon report. This writer was at City Hall, digging out stories relative to the city, police, school board and other downtown activities. Other reporters were covering different issues; all were feeding regular radio reports and preparing for their evening television news stories. Henry Viney, the so-called "Dean of Canadian Sportcasting," had probably thrown his second lit match into the paper bin after lighting his famous big cigar, causing at least one newsroom staffer to shout, "Henry you've done it again!" as he rushed for water to put out the fire. Old typewriters would be clicking, pounding out re-writes of news copy to bring it into radio style. The news wire would continue to peel out reams of news items from around the world.

The top story of the day would, without doubt, come for Chile, a long narrow country on the extreme west side of the South American continent some 10,000 kilometers away. In addition to hard copy produced by international reporters representing news agencies like Rueters, United Press International (UPI), and Canadian Press (CP), there would be voice feeds from affiliates feeding news radio and television feeds (probably rough footage) retransmitted electronically through CTV.

All of the coverage would pertain to a military coup taking place in Chile, with the military regime of Augusto Pinochet overthrowing the democratically elected government of Salvadore Allende, marking the beginning of 17 years of military rule in Chile.

Some Allende History

Salvadore Allende was elected president in 1970, the first ever communist to be elected in a democratic vote. The 1970 elections for president were a three-way contest between the conservative National Party, which ran former president Jorge Alessandri; the left, which formed a coalition called Popular Unity (Unidad Popular, or UP) of communists, socialists, the Radical party, MPU, and two smaller parties, with Salvador Allende of the Socialist Party as their candidate; and the Christian Democrats, who ran Radomiro Tomic from the remaining left wing of the party. U.S. interests — the CIA and the multinationals — put less money into the campaign than they had in 1964, assuming Alessandri would win, but the results were:

Allende (UP) 1,075,616 36.6 percent
Alessandri (PM) 1,036,278 35.3 percent
Tomic (PDC) 824,849 28.1 percent

Thus is was that the world's first freely elected socialist president came to power in Chile.

The development strategy of the UP alliance was clearly expressed in the opening sentence of its economic program: "The central objective of the united popular forces is to replace the current economic structure, ending the power of the national and foreign monopoly capitalists and large landowners, in order to initiate the construction of socialism."

Such a transition to socialism would require major structural changes, notably the nationalization of the industrial sector (to be called the Area of Social Production), and the implementation of an effective agrarian reform. Other goals included providing better health, housing, and social security, and ending discrimination against women.

The core of the policy was to raise wages at the expense of profits, thereby squeezing the private sector, much of which was to be taken over by the state and run at a lower rate of profit. By the end of 1971, 150 industrial plants were under state control, including twelve of the twenty largest firms. Unemployment declined as the economy expanded, inflation was kept under control, and workers' incomes rose by 50 percent, a huge increase. As a result, the UP increased its share of the vote in the April 1971 municipal elections. As a result of the drop in aid and economic sanctions, Chilean industry ran into problems getting spare parts, technology, and new machinery. Meanwhile inflation returned because workers and peasants now had more money to spend, driving up prices, while shortages of goods were occurring. Agriculture declined as the land reform disrupted production, and landowners took land out of production. Politically, it should be pointed out that Allende did not control the entire state machinery — he did not have a majority in Congress, he did not control the judiciary, he did not have the loyalty of the entire civil service nor of much of the army high command, which had been trained in the United States. The upper classes owned most of the mass media, and used it against him (the CIA also gave money to conservative newspapers and radios to do a vicious smear campaign playing on fears of communism). (Internet)

On September 11, 1973, the military intervened in the mounting social crisis, stating a violent coup d'etat under the direction of General Augusto Pinochet. Allende died defending the presidential palace, probably by his own hand. Many of his aides were arrested then transported to a military base where they were executed and buried. In the provinces the notorious "Caravan of Death" targeted political opponents, summarily executing at least 72.

The military formed a junta headed by Pinochet and composed of the commanders-in-chief of the army, navy, air force and police, and embarked on a campaign to remove the influence of the UP from all social institutions. A state of siege was declared, martial law introduced, parliament closed, the media censored, universities purged, books burned, Marxist political parties outlawed and union activities banned. Thousands were murdered or "disappeared." Thousands more were jailed or tortured or forced into exile. Up to one million fled into self-imposed exile. Up to 250,000 people were detained in the first months following the coup. Stadiums, military bases and naval vessels had to be used as short-term prisons. At least five new prison camps were established for political prisoners.

The new formed secret police (National Intelligence Directorate - DINA) created a reign of terror at home and organized the assassinations of opponents in exile overseas. Civilian courts were supplanted with military tribunals. Pinochet, an admirer of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, was appointed president in 1974, ruling as an iron-fisted dictator. The U.S. quickly recognized the junta and reinstated financial aid. (Internet)

On September 11, 1973, newsrooms throughout the democratic world were probably doing much the same as CFCN , compiling as much information as possible on the coup and reporting it perhaps as nothing more than another event in a very active world. In other words, they were doing what was expected of the media and that is to provide an unbiased account of what was taking place in Chile based on the accounts being fed to them from reporters on the ground in that country.

In Chile, however, media outlets had taken on an entirely different role. The outlets became tools of the revolution, and as some commentators claim, were the tool of the Allende government prior to the coup d'etat, with Allende using the media to "constantly assure Chilean workers that they were engaged in a common struggle, and that the working class had won a major victory." In fact, in one of his last acts prior to dying, Allende took to the airwaves on the one radio station that had not been shut down by the revolutionary forces. On Radio Magallares he gave a defiant last address in which he pledged his own life in defense of his right to govern. He stated: "I am ready to resist by whatever means, even at the cost of my life, so that this may serve as a lesson to the ignominious history of those who use force not reason." (Internet)

Throughout the readings related to CMNS 402 "Media in the Americas" there is much academic commentary about the media in the new world communications order, alternate media, media as a nation builder, the introduction of coloured television to at least three Latin American countries and a host of other material discussing the management, opeation and technical aspects of the media in the Americas and other parts of the Globe. Only one reading, however, alludes to the abuse of the media, or the use of the media as a propaganda tool and that reading is authored by Jorge Gibert. Entitled "The Response to the Chilean Dictatorship" the article was written for Alternative Popular Communication, published by Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

In an Editor's note, Gibert says "This contribution was completed before the 1988 referendum in which the majority of Chileans voted against the continuation of the regime of General Pinochet."

Quotes from Gibert:

"After the coup d'etat of September 11, 1973, radio and T.V. stations, newspapers, magazines and journals suffered severe concentration and censorship. The members of the media supporting Allende's government, journalists, artists, intellectuals, and workers in general were expelled from the laboural sources, imprisoned, assassinated, or exiled. Repression against the media included those of the Christian Democratic Party who had directly, or indireclty, supported the military adventure of General Pinochet and the CIA. Newspapers and radio stations belonging to this party were closed down while those belonging to the political parties that made up the Popular Unity government were confiscated or destroyed by the military. They were never returned to their owners. Not a single space was left to those who disagreed with the military junta, nor any space available to denounce the atrocities and crimes being committed by the armed forces in that dirty war was justified as a crusade against international communism."

Gibert goes on to say: "Between 1973 and 1980, the only news or information broadcast or published in the Chilean media was that strictly authorized by the military regime. The official information printed or broadcast in Chile contained and still contains ideological foundations of the so-called National Security Doctrine. This doctrine promotes the implementation of 'restricted' and 'protected' democracies under the rigid control of the armed forces. The media have been utilized to instigate, and later to justify repression, murders, and all kinds of injustices against the Chilean people who demand bread, work, and freedom. Finally, another notorious characteristic of the Chilean media is the amount of information dedicated to cover soccer and sports in general, as well as crimes, private scandals, and the life of Chilean and international artists, in an attempt to keep people unaware of what, in fact, is taking place in Chile and other places. Thus, the only solution left to the opposition was to develop an underground network of communication, mainly through the publication of newsletters and small bulletins which began to circulate in the barrios, and working places. However, even those publications were severely repressed every time the military personnel and police discovered them.

In this environment journalists and communicators pay a high personal cost for daring to articulate their opposition to the military state. This is especially true for those who take a harder line against the government. They are continuously threatened, persecuted, imprisoned, expelled from the country, or simply assassinated.

Another barrier to Chilean democracy lies in the concentration of the mass media in the government hands. Table 1 shows that in the print media there is opposition representation whereas in broadcasting there is not. Two out of six newspapers and half of all magazines are in opposition hands. However only four of 200 radio stations and no televisions outlets are owned by the opposition."

TABLE 1 - CONCENTRATION OF THE CHILEAN MEDIA: 1987

Television stations 4-pro government, 0-opposition
Newspapers 6-pro government, 2-opposition
Magazines 5-pro government, 6-opposition
Radio stations over 200-pro government, 4-opposition

Gibert says in order to overcome government controls over the media alternate (but perhaps illegal) media forms have emerged as a response.

"In addition to the traditional media under the Chilean military regime there is an alternative and popular system of communication created by the people. The forms, characteristics, audience, and the environment in which this system operates, are qualitatively different from that of the traditional media.

The alternative system includes street theater, folklore, poetry, graffiti and the popular press such as bulletins and newsletters. It has two main characteristics. To begin with, though alternative communication often operates within the legal confines permitted by the military regime, it is a mechanism which confronts and challenges the government and its socio-political and economic models. This is so because the neo-conservative concept of society which prevails in the military regime does not provide legitimate political arenas where other social sectors and their organizations may express themselves and deal with their problems. The people furthermore need alternative communication channels because the military model assumes that class distinctions must be elimininated and the members of society should develop their plans through the market. Faced with this challenge, the Chilean state has utilized repression as its only means of social control. It has offered a military rather than apolitical response which, in fact, reflects the political weakness of the dictatorial regime. (RF)

While all the major news magazines — Time, Newsweek, etc. — carried detailed coverage of the military coup in Chile, perhaps the most comprehensive coverage was contained in the October 1973 editon of National Geographic entitled, "Chile — Republic on a Shoestring." The 40-page article tells of all aspects of life in a post-democracy era. One of the most vivid accounts of media use is a picture of soldiers breaking up a crowd of protestors. The cut line reads: "Violence erupted when a radio station, ignoring government edicts, broadcast critical speeches. Cheering crowds pour into the streets while troops run a gauntlet of demonstrators and fires to restore order. Polcie silenced the station by cutting off its electricity."

A Vignette

I was young, so my memory is a little vague. I remember lots of debate before and after the election of President Allende. If you were elected President every media outlet talked about the new President and new programs.

After Pinochet became President, the media became very controlled. The media was used for propaganda. Freedom of speech changed, for better or worse depending on how you looked at it. This is from Felicia, an immigrant to Canada from Chile during the 1970s. (PI)

According to a high level Chilean diplomat who wishes not to be named, the media in Chile today has stabilized tremendously. He says the governing party albeit a coalition has won three elections since free elections in 1989. Today he describes the two major newspapers in Chile as hostile, but nothwithstanding editorial opporsition, the government has survived. The diplomat says the papers are hostile simply because they are in the hands of corporate interests fundamentally opposed to government policy.

With respect to radio, the diplomat says it is wide open and entirely free with few restrictions. He says, "We let a 100 flowers bloom." Television is very interesting in Chile, and it is the media most responsible for taking democracy about as far as it can go. According to the diplomat, television broadcasting rules as they pertain to political involvement state that all parties must be offered equal time according to their representation in the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament). He reports it is interesting, if not amusing, to observe politicians from opposing parties use their stop watches to record the television time being consumed just to make sure they get equal time. (PI)

In newsrooms across the country and around the world not much is being said about Chile other than in the country itself. The international focus has turned to Iraq and Israel and other hot spots in the mideast and of course there is news of interest locally, regionally and nationally in all of the news outlets. In Chile most news of the Allende/Pinochet period appears on the internet with much of it focusing on the regime of Pinochet and the atrocities allegedly committed under his dictatorship. Most notable are sites published by Amnesty International, Derechos (rights) Chile, and a site called moreorless/killers/Pinochet or the Augusto Pinochet Killer file. Internationally, news outlets care very little aboutC hile other than the ongoing demands by some Chileans for Pinochet to be put on trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

On July 1, 2002, the Chilean Supreme Court ruled Pinochet could not be put on trial because of his ill health and three days later Pinochet resigned as Senator for life, formally ending his political career. While human rights activists continued their quest to bring Pinochet to trial, the former dictator granted a rare interview to the Miami-based Spanish language television station WDLP-22 on November 24, 2003. He stated that he had no regrets about his time in power and refused to apologize for the alleged abuses of his regime.

He is quoted as saying: "I never aspired to be a dictator ... because I considered that to be a dictator would end badly. I always acted in a democratic way ... Who shall I ask to be pardoned by? They say I should ask for forgiveness, what shall I ask to be forgiven for? ... I feel like an angel. I have no resentment."

As a result of the televised interview lawyers intensified their efforts to bring Pinochet to trial, saying the interview indicated (through Pinochet dealing well with his recollections) that the former dictator is medically fit to stand trial. (Internet)

Today in Chile the political climate is stable, Pinochet still makes the news from time to time, but the government under President Ricardo LAGOS Escobar is very careful to try to please everyone according to the Chilean Honorary Consul in Alberta, Diego Soto. Soto says the two major newspapers in Chile "now leave the government pretty much alone." With the major business paper, El Mercurio, being to the right and gradually moving to the center, and the populist paper La Tercera concentrating on matters of day-to-day interest to Chileans. (PI)

There can be no doubt that control over the media is crucial during times of political upheavel. Control can curtail the use of an unfriendly media and can be exercised to use the media as a tool of propaganda. In a stable, democratic society the media returns to its traditional role of reporting on the day's events, internationally, nationally and regionally providing entertainment, and freely commenting on political actions and other events of the day. And so it is in Chile more than 30 years later and life in media outlets is probably much the same as it is in outlets throughout the world that are not involved in conflict.

End Notes

Gibert, Jorge. Reading File (RF). Athabasca University, Athabasca, Ab, 2000

Young, Gordon; Mobley, George. Chile-Republic on a shoestring, National

Geographic, National Geographic Society, Washington, d.C., 1973.

Internet Sources

n AMARC.org

n chile/com/

n cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ci.html

n geocities.com/educhile-1970s

n moreorless.au.com/killer/pinochet.htm

n nervat.com/left/allende/htm

n presidencia.cl/

n stago@dfait-moeci.ga.ca

n trumanedu/~marc/webpages/revfall99/chile/

n wikipedia.org/wiki/salvadorallende

Other sources

Felicia, personal interview (PI), 2004

Soto, Diego, personal interview (PI), 2004

Unnamed diplomat, personal interview, (PI), 2004