The Role of World News on the National Identity and Political Change of Puerto Rico

• In Event: The Influence of the Mass Media in the Politics and Identity of Puerto Rico

Abstract

The first comprehensive analysis of the political economy of the mass media of Puerto Rico in 1990 concluded that the fundamental factor shaping those media was the Island’s status with the U.S. The world of international communications, dominated mainly by United States capital, continues to shape the political status of the Island and is proposed as one of the fundamental factors informing and contributing to the ongoing colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and United States and therefore the island’s national identity. The goal is thus to systematically document how the limited news about the territory of Puerto Rico, in the midst of intense deliberations about its future status with the U.S., are presented in the mass media that shape public knowledge and opinions. To this end, this study aims to explore two complementary questions: 1. Is there is a relationship between media coverage of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, and the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans that Puerto Ricans residing in United States and the ones living in the Island have about their status and identity? 2. How similar or different might the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans be when comparing Puerto Ricans residing in United States and the ones living on the Island-nation? A central proposition of this research is that the invisibility of Puerto Rico in the U.S. news has potentially detrimental consequences, not only for Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans national identity and cultural values, but also for U.S. internal and foreign policies and affairs.

Author

• Aitza M Haddad, Howard University