Between carnival and confrontation. Discursive strategies in the media coverage of feminist protests

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the discursive strategies of Mexican digital media used to portray the actions and protagonists of the feminist protests in the context of the current administration of the Mexican federal government, known as “The 4T” (“The Fourth Transformation”). It reviews the coverage of feminist protests on emblematic dates (International Women’s Day, Global Day of Action for the Legalization of Abortion, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) of five digital media during the first three years of the 4T (2019-2021) from a Critical Discourse Analysis (cda) approach. The results reveal how these strategies reconfigure the object of the protest and create two opposite hubs of significance: either to validate or to sanction women’s actions in the public space.