La comunicación periodística y la relación de asimetría en el proceso de integración del mercosur

Abstract

The article considers the impact of territorial size of a nation in its socioeconomic and political fate through the analysis of news communication. This issue is studied in relation with the Mercosur regional treaty: what is the upshot of the remarkable asymmetry between the partners of this geopolitical union? The journalistic discourse that involves different socio-political actors of the region is analysed to understand the actual meaning of this agreement. How plausible is the concept of Mercosur in print news communication? The hypothesis is that there are two opposed rhetorical tendencies in the media discourse on the treatise: one construes and orients the process towards a symmetrical ideal between the partners; the other underlines the asymmetry of the territorial power, and thus favours the conflict and the eventual collapse of the regional block. The article aims at understanding the reference of the complex notion of Mercosur, through the study of the media discourse that some of its main actors produce.