ABSTRACT
In Mexico of today, both the reception of television news and the making of news by the media, are fields of study with growing social importance. This is because of the popularity of TV news as a means for audiences to stay informed, and because of the mediation which both television companies and political institutions exercise in the dissemination of information and the construction of news (Alianza Cívica 1994; Molina 1989; Sánchez 1994). But, above all, television owes its current importance to the fact that the very process of viewing has been recognized by political parties, non-governmental organizations, as well as by researchers, as a battlefield in and of itself-an arena in which the television system, politicians, and members of the audience, all in different ways, contribute to the mediation, negotiation, and appropriation of messages. Along with other political and economic events that have put Mexico on the front pages of the international press (Orozco 1994c), the Chiapas conflict (see below pp. 128-9), which exploded on 1 January 1994, just a few months after the present study, has widened the interest of Mexicans in the media, especially given the controversial role played by TV news programs in covering this event.
