Discursive analysis of media representations of infamous bodies. Case study of Metro Newspaper

Abstract

One of the effects of violence in Mexico is the representation of infamous bodies in the press. This article explores infamous bodies4 production based on different events (accidents, violence or extravagant behaviors), which become social facts after being recorded in language. The aim of the document is to look at the representation of the infamous body through the journalistic dis- course, conceived as an indication of society’s perspective towards “the other”. The hypothesis of the paper is that the representation of infamous bodies in the press corresponds to an unsupportive sense of solidarity as part of an immuni- zation process (ESPOSITO 2011). The article uses the concept of immunizationapplied through a semiotic and rhetorical analysis that takes into account the di- mension of language and image, proposing a hermeneutics that puts into ques- tion the ethics of journalism in its relationship with power and violence. For this end, the front pages of the Metro newspaper, whose journalistic discourse is an eloquent example of the construction of infamous bodies and the immu- nization process, were analyzed.