La prensa en tiempos de crisis: análisis del discurso al periódico el tiempo en el proceso de cambio constitucional promovido en 1991 en Colombia

Abstract

The monograph “The Press in Times of Crisis” analyzes how the newspaper El Tiempo influenced public perception during the process that led to Colombia’s 1991 Political Constitution. The research explores how the newspaper, through its editorial and informational strategies, contributed to legitimizing the constituent process, representing political actors, and building social consensus. The theoretical framework combines the social construction of reality (Berger and Luckmann), communication theories (Hypodermic Needle, Limited Effects, Critical Theory), and the concept of public opinion (Habermas), to understand how media can influence society. Methodologically, critical discourse analysis (CDA) was applied to key newspaper publications from 1990 to 1991, covering three moments: the Séptima Papeleta, the election of delegates to the National Constituent Assembly, and the promulgation of the final document. The corpus was gathered from the National Newspaper Library, allowing observation of how El Tiempo built narratives that shaped public perception in a context of violence, institutional crisis, and social mobilization. The study highlights that media are not merely neutral informers but powerful actors capable of reinforcing or challenging ideologies, influencing democratic processes, and reflecting or excluding voices in times of deep social change.