Mexico Journal: Twitter, Televisa, and the 2012 Election
Front-running presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto greets supporters in Mexico City. Photo by N. Parish Flannery @LatAmLENS
In the late stage of Mexico’s election, which will be held on Sunday, July 1, young people in the country have rallied together to protest what they see as biased media coverage of the race. Enrique Peña Nieto, EPN, the candidate from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, currently Mexico’s best organized party, has been accused of paying TV broadcasters for favorable coverage. A number of critics have accused Televisa, who is married to a popular former Televisa soap opera star, of providing the PRI’s candidate with favorable coverage. At one anti-Televisa protest, a young woman held up a sign that showed a TV with fangs and a slogan that read “Weapon of mass manipulation.” Another sign said “The Revolution Will Not be Televised.” At the June 2 demonstration in front of Televisa’s office, protesters chanted “Democratization of media” and “NO TO MANIPULATION!”
The current protests all stem from a visit by Peña Nieto to the Mexico City campus of Univerdidad Iberoamericana, or “Ibero” as it’s called locally. During his speech one student held up a sign that said “What are your three favorite books?” a reference to a rare unscripted moment in the campaign when the candidate stuttered and stammered and failed to name three books that he had read. Another sign said “SALINAS,” a reference to Mexico’s last old school PRI president, one of several older party stalwarts who are backing Peña Nieto’s candidacy.
Inside the auditorium, a few young PRIistas held up signs in support of Peña Nieto, but outside the scene was more unruly. After saluting the audience, the candidate speed-walked out a back door, jostled amid a group of body guards, while students holding up cell-phone cameras documented his rapid retreat, yelling “IBERO DOESN’T WANT YOU!!!” Packed along the stairways and outdoor corridors of the campus, protestors pumped their fists while chanting “Leave! Leave! Leave!”
As he climbed into his bullet proof SUV, a flustered Peña Nieto, tie and collar still crisp, hair
You can read the rest of this article at:: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanielparishflannery/2012/06/30/mexico-journal-twitter-televisa-and-the-2012-election/
Short URL: http://thepresidency.us/?p=17815
Posted by RobertButler
on Jun 30 2012. Filed under 2012 Presidential Campaign.
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