Las pandillas y la prensa

La producción de un mito nacional

Abstract

Now as in the past, gangs are receiving much attention from the media, but what is most striking on the way the media handle this problem is the remarkable lack of variety. Two factors explain this consistency. On one hand, there are the professional stakes and commercial interests of the various actors in the world of the media, which, together with certain technical constraints, determine the form and content of reporting the gangs, on the other hand, there is the influence that gangs themselves exert on the form and content of these reports so to derive the greatest advantage from them. Gangs and the media have thus set up a relationship which enable both to maintain their status on society. Together they have reinforced the popular myth of gangs in American culture, and given it its image. This image, rooted in individual and collective fears, has both sharpened the interest of the public, and strengthened the place and status of gangs in american culture.