Antoine Medeiros-Lima, 12 November 2010
Words: 2,405
At the End of the Tunnel
Thirty-three miners trapped for 68 days at 700m depth were brought to the surface on the 13 and 14 October 2010. The rescue took place during a chilly night at the San José mine near the small town of Copiapo in the Atacama desert, Chile. In front of the cameras, one after the other, the miners emerged from their underground prison.
Examining the TV coverage of the rescue on the BBC Ten O’Clock News, ITV News at Ten for the UK, TF1 Le Journal de 20 Heures and France2 Le 20 Heures in France (otherwise known as JTs) and some international 24/7 news channels, BBC News 24, Sky News, CNN (see Note A), taking a critical approach and gathering empirical evidence although non-exhaustive, we will ask why and how this event touched such a global audience and was a source of national pride.
Going through the broadcast news, we can notice that far from being a “spontaneous” event, everything was planned in detail, resulting in dull emotionally-led bland broadcasting to a billion viewer audience (1) around the world. To understand such an event and its consequencial social changes, we should look into Chilean recent history and its mining industry.
I Brief and short historical summary of Chile and its mining industry
The Republic of Chile is a relatively young country, gaining its independence from Spain less than 200 years ago (1818). After the Guerra del Salitre (Saltpeter War) or War of the Pacific (1883) and the indigenous Mapuche subordination, the 20th century saw Chile suffering a bloody coup on 9/11, 1973, when General Pinochet overthrew left wing democratically elected PresidentSalvador Allende by bombing the presidential palace of La Moneda. General Pinochet imposed a dictatorship which lasted until 1989, when democracy was partially restored. Pinochet remained the chief of the army until the late 1990s.
This period of “impunidad” (“impunity”) saw a dramatic change in Chilean society: absence of freedom and democracy, the disappearance of more than 3,000 people, 30,000 suffered torture (2) and nearly 200,000 went into exile. Coupled with these sufferings, a new liberal-orientated economic plan was put in place by the Chicago Boys (young Chilean economists who followed Milton Freedman’s theories about liberalism). These were the darkest times in the Republic of Chile’s history.
Since the Saltpeter War, the ownership of the main mines and holdings were in private American hands until the nationalisation of the industry in 1971. A policy of diversification since has made Chile a major exporter of several minerals (copper, iron, coal), thus making mining the main source of income for the country. Encapsulating the relationship between Chile and its mines, El Chiflón del Diablo (“The Devil's Tunnel”), a novel written by Baldomero Lillo in 1904 relates the death of coal miners and describes the mines as the qualm of demons and devils.
II An international media event and some news values
More than a billion people followed the coverage live on TV and as far as the number of journalists is concerned more than 1,200 reporters (3) were present on Campo Esperanza (Hope Camp). As we will see the reporting of the rescue includes numerous key values for a successful international news story.
First of all, the actors. Miners are part of the world’s industrial culture. Most post-industrial countries (USA, the EU countries) and developing ones (China, Chile) have a long history of invention, exploitation, protests, tragedies and even war as in the case of Chile, engulfing these communities. Repeated images showing miners emerging from their ordeal make mining and other communities across the world proxies and thereby increasing the sympathy factor of audiences.
But on the night, neither BBC1, ITV, TF1, France2 nor BBC News 24, CNN or Sky News reported on the dangers, the death toll, the miners’ salaries, the lack of real legislative rules, the Saltpeter War which happened in the same region or the proceeds of mining which fuel wars in the developing world. Was there some kind of control or self-censorship within those channels? In this aspect, Mark Novak, a reporter specialist in mining with strong views on this industry (4), was invited on BBC News 24 in April 2010 when 100 Chinese miners were freed in Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning, but was ignored by the main channels for the Chilean story. This approach was to make the audience feel comfortable with this “clean” and unambiguous event.
In adding a constant dose of danger and drama “live”, all the 24/7 channels, the French JTs and the UK 10 O’Clock news programmes created a “sympathy factor” for the audience. Flicking through the broadcasts of the different channels, it became obvious that they shared the main objective of getting a larger and wider audience on the edge of their seats as the operation was underway while keeping the viewers always aware of a potential freak accident. It was interesting to select such a cliché as: “a real miracle”, “a real global drama” repeated by numerous reporters across the globe (CNN, Sky News, TF1 and France2). It was not only lapsus or tautology.
This specific narrative was chosen to instil a dose of emotion to increase audiences. The rescue coverage was leaning, as this media event reached its climax, towards sensationalism on an international basis. The miners were becoming global celebrities as each single one emerged from the Fénix capsule. Journalists were playing on biased views, instead of objective journalism, the audiences were offered a “journalism of attachment” as Andrew Marr describes it (15). The individual narratives of each miner about their life, tastes, extra–marital affairs and how they “performed” during the last 70 days, exposed them like the winners of a world reality-TV show.
The long running story news value was another important fact. The Chilean miners’ “rescue story” started on 5th August with the collapse of the upper part of the San José mine. But the audience “snowball effect” started when the miners were located 17 days later. The media frenzy erupted that day and newsrooms editors across the world knew they had the summer (and automn) story on their hands. One can ask, however, why very few in-depth articles related to Chile before and during the rescue were produced. This total lack of investigative journalism and substance explains the dynamics of today’s information: news need to be light and consumed on the spot with no after- or beforehand-taste.
Other factor in this non-exhaustive list is the eventfulness of the rescue and its happy ending. According to Shihab Rattansi anchorman for Al Jazeera on that night (16), everything was following a schedule produced by the President’s press office released earlier. Indeed, everything worked smoothly and according to plan: a controled staged event to show Chile’s unity to the world.
In summary, the coverage of the Chilean miners’ rescue was a successful international media event as it attracted around a billion viewers. The elements of such success lay with each TV channel in following, willingly or not, almost perfectly the Galtung and Ruge taxonomy (14) of news values, adding sensationalisation to the rescue itself, making miners global celebrities on the spot and producing a journalism of attachment. British, French and other channels across the world and the 24/7 channels (CNN, Sky News, BBC 24), all followed those pre-defined values and those ingredients to appeal to audiences. This “made-for-media” show provides arguments that the coverage on its own was more a pseudo-event than a news programme.
III A source of national pride and international political gain
Watching the live “release” of the miners, viewers could notice the Chilean flags across Campo Esperanza, in the background of each single angle of the cameras and in the mine itself. How could such an event become the focus of nationalism? We will look at the role of the miners themselves and the executive power spin. Analysing the newscast further and studying some post-rescue programmes, this pseudo-event, as per Daniel Boorstin’ definition of this term (7), appears like if it were orchestrated by the executive power.
During the entire running story, the miners themselves served the nation with their sense of patriotism and a feeling of national unity. We will take just the most known cases for our argument.
In the first telephone link, 24 August 2010, Luis Urzua congratulated personally the mining minister, Laurence Golborne (the mining industry’s “chief lobbyist” according to the Chilean opposition) in front of the world cameras. A couple of days later, the miners sent a video link showing themselves singing the national anthem. This was seen as a patriotic moment towards the Chilean population to thank them for their help. The following days, Chilean flags were erupting throughout Campo Esperanza and even in the mine itself.
On Independence Day (18 September), the group sang the national anthem spontaneously and Carlos Mamani, the Bolivian miner, said: "I would like to send a special message to Chilean President Sebastían Piñera.”
A crucial image which may stay in the Chilean national psyche is when Mario Sepulveda started the Chileans’ rally and waved the national flag. This very precise moment was broadcast by all the main “24s” as well as the French and UK news bulletins. It was not a surprise then to see behind the main camera, a large Chilean flag displayed. These miners, the machine and its engineers were the pride of the nation. This message was repeated several times on the night and President Piñera made several statements about the rescue being “a national effort by national technology”.
Still on the political side, the omnipresence of President Sebastían Piñera and minister Laurence Golborne before, during and after the coverage of the Chilean miners’ rescue and their constant speeches addressed both to the miners and the Chilean population were another “contextual” element of giving the Chileans the feeling of unity and equality.
Possibly the best analysis of this showing off of collective nationalism hysteria from miners to the President Sebastían Piñera comes from Ariel Dorfman (5): “There’s a desire in Chile to overcome those divisions and wreckage of the past. We came out of a terrible dictatorship when the country was divided into two. This is a nation which comes together finally.”
Finally, the “Nunca Mas” words (“Never Again”) of the last miner out, Luis Urzua, to the President and Sebastían Piñera’s reply of “ No Impunidad” (“There will be no impunity”) may have both exorcised the references to the dictatorship of Pinochet and turned another page in Chile’s history thereby cementing national unity.
According to the Forbes magazine, the Chilean President has a fortune of $1.2 billion and owns one of Chile's four television networks, Chilevision SA. Analysing further details beyond Sebastían Piñera narratives like his physical position between the group of rescuers, the cameras angles to ensure that his face overcasts those of the miners when making the accolade and more detailed fixtures, it appears that each single detail had been considered beforehand and that preparation had been drafted with minutious precision. This populist approach was rewarded by the Chileans: his approval rating rose to 63% (6) and that of his Mining Minister, Laurence Golborne to 83% (8). Some in his government talked about ‘’Personalismo’’, a kind of cult of personality more in line with dictators than a democratically elected president, as quoted by BBC’s Sarah Montague on Hardtalk (18).
This TV populism through a live ‘international’ event watched by nearly a billion people through the voices and eyes of 1,200 journalists (3) may have changed the perception of the executive power on how to directly influence a nation without any election promises. The chemistry of poor workers singing the national anthem, a telegenic institutional and wealthy face constantly in front of the cameras and the lobbying presidential and ministerial PR spin created a sense of national unity and ironed out any class notions. This is possibly a first in international live broadcasting.
Conclusion and questioning on journalism
Through the critical analysis of the rescue of the Chilean miners, mass media communication appears in this instance to be an instrument of nationalism (12) and a new conceptualisation of national identity given to an international audience. The TV live rescue became an international media event in following well-known criteria which can be described as an alchemy of sensationalism mixed with a journalism of attachment and a lack of substance. The successful organisation and production behind the event had more to do with the influence of the executive power than the stand-in journalists repeating the same monotonous lines drawn from the Chilean presidential press releases. The major winners were not the 33 miners who emerged from their ordeal as global celebrities, but President Piñera and minister Laurence Golborne who made Chile a new member of the international media elite, sent a message of unity to the Chileans in front of a global audience and gained personal fame on the political international scene. However, in the journalistic field, some like David Randall (9) and James Rodgers (10) argue that such global interest has finally put the mining industry under scrutiny, it counters the ongoing “programmes obsessed with the making of celebrities” (9) and that “such a global event will lead to a new kind of opportunity (in journalism)” (10).
With such reach and “live” societal changes, major questions have arisen about the new face of international reporting. International news is, as any other news nowadays, a commodity where minimum investment needs to bring maximum returns in terms of advertising and/or audience as Charlie Becketts summarizes it (11). On this occasion, the broadcasting channels struck gold with high ratings. But where was the journalism ethics questioning the coverage itself and the medievalism of the mining industry? Where were the principles of freedom of the press in the executive manipulation and the presidential personality cult? Possibly in answer to both questions, ethics and principles were left with their demons at the bottom of the mine... But there’s always light and hope at the end of the tunnel as the miners taught us.
Note A: The BBC Ten O’Clock News, ITV News at Ten for the UK, TF1 Le Journal de 20 Heures and France2 Le 20 Heures in France featured the miners’ rescue story lasting between 6 and 7 minutes on all those four channels.
(1) Source for the figures only: Blomberg.com on 14 October 2010
(2) The National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture Report or Valech Report (2004), Chile
(3) Emily Maitlis, Newsnight, BBC 2 (2010)
(4) Mark Novak, Coal Moountain Elementary (2009), Minneapolis: Coffee House Press
(5) Source: The Guardian 13/10/10 and (3)
(6) Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-02
(7) Daniel Boorstin (1992) The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events, First Vintage Books
(8) www.telegraph.co.uk By Peter Hutchison, Bonnie Malkin and Andy Bloxham Published: 4:17PM BST 13 Oct 2010
(9) David Randall was interviewed by MA in International Journalism students on 21 October 2010 – 1400 to 1430.
(10) See James Rodgers blog on Mining disasters, journalism, and justice
(11) Charlie Beckett (2008) SuperMedia: Saving Journalism so it can save the world. Oxford: Blackwell
(12) Nicolas Demertzis, Styllianos Papathanossopoulos, Antonis Armenakis (1999) Media and Nationalism, The Macedonian Question, The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics vol. 4 no. 3 26-50
(14) Source: Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Thomas Hanitzsch (2008), The Handbook of journalism studies, ICA Handbook Series
(15) Andrew Marr (2004) My Trade. London: MacMillan
(16) Al Jazeera, 13 October 2010
(17) Hardtalk (BBC/BBC News 24), 18 October 2010
Bibliography:
Allan, S. (2004) News Culture. Buckingham: Open University Press
Baldomero Lillo (1904, re. 2008), El Chiflón del Diablo, Sub-sole
Beckett, Charlie (2008) SuperMedia: Saving Journalism so it can save the world. Oxford: Blackwell
Boorstin, Daniel (1992) The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events. First Vintage Books
Calabrese, A. and C. Sparks (eds) (2004) Toward a Political Economy of Culture: Capitalism and Communication in the Twenty-First Century. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Collins, R. et al (1988) The Economics of Television - The UK Case. London: Sage.
Doyle, G. (2002) Media Ownership. London: Sage.
Marr, Andrew (2004) My Trade. London: MacMillan
Novak, Mark (2009) Coal Moountain Elementary. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press
Paterson, C. and A. Sreberny (2004) International News in the Twenty-First Century. John Libbey Publishing.
Randall, D. , (2007). The Universal Journalist. London: Pluto Press..
Wahl-Jorgensen Karin, Hanitzsch Thomas (2008), The Handbook of journalism studies. ICA Handbook Series
Websites
AlJazeera News http://english.aljazeera.net/
BSkyB, http://news.sky.com/skynews
Daily Telegraph, Hutchison, P. Malkin, B and Bloxham, A www.telegraph.co.uk (Accessed: 13 October 2010)
France2 http://www.france2.fr/
France24 http://www.france24.com/fr/
Financial Times, http://www.ft.com/
Le Figaro, http://www.lefigaro.fr/
LeMonde.fr http://www.lemonde.fr/
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/ (Accessed: October /N ovember 2010)
ITV http://www.itv.com/news/?intcmp=NAV_NEWS5
Rodgers, J. blog on Mining disasters, journalism, and justice (Accessed: 05 November 2010)
WordPress, Mark Novak http://coalmountain.wordpress.com/ (Accessed: October 2010
Filmography
Missing (Costa-Gavras, Polygram, USA, 1982)
Teleography
Al Jazeera News (Al Jazeera)
BBC News 24 (BBC)
BBC Ten O’Clock News (BBC)
CNN
France2 (France Television)
France24 (Audiovisuel Exterieur de la France – AEF)
Hardtalk (BBC/BBC News 24)
ITV News at Ten (ITN)
Newsnight, (BBC/BBC 2)
Sky News (BSkyB)
TF1 (TF1 Group)
