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Nicaragua The Media
Noted during the Sandinista years for its virulently
partisan
and sensationalist character, the communications media
began to
show small signs of moderation and objectivity as the
Chamorro
regime progressed. However, partisanship was still a key
word in
the printed and broadcast press, and Sandinista dominance
over
the communications media largely continued, despite the
transfer
of power in the government. After the 1990 elections,
however,
importance differences of opinion emerged in the
relationship
between the Sandinista-dominated media and official FSLN
positions.
The greatest news source for most Nicaraguans is the
radio.
Some radio stations are considered so influential that
opponents
of their political position target them for attacks. The
rightist
Radio Corporación, for instance, was heavily damaged twice
by
Sandinistas, in the early years of the Chamorro government
and
the Sandinista Radio Ya was attacked by unknown
assailants.
The three major dailies of the Sandinista period
continued to
dominate the print media market in 1993. La Prensa,
founded in 1926, with an estimated circulation of 30,000
in early
1992, continued the family tradition built by the
president's
late husband, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal. At the time
of the
transition, La Prensa was run by the president's
daughter,
Christiania Chamorro de Lacayo also the wife of Antonio
Lacayo.
Christiania Chamorro's tight control over La Prensa
and
reported refusal to permit criticism of her mother's
government
led to a rebellion among the editorial board and staff
within a
year after the 1990 election. The editorial staff, which
included
other family members, took the opportunity presented by
Christiania Chamorro's official trip abroad with her
mother in
November 1990 to publish articles harshly critical of the
government for its relations with Sandinista leaders. In
January
the staff forced Christiania Chamorro to resign as editor
and
removed Violeta Chamorro from the board of directors. The
changes
were seen as an attempt by the editorial staff to
establish La
Prensa as an independent paper rather than the
official voice
of the government.
One of the two pro-Sandinista newspapers also moved in
the
1990s to a position more critical of the Chamorro
government and
the FSLN. Barricada, founded in 1979, with an
estimated
circulation of 20,000 in 1992, declared in early 1992 that
it
would no longer serve as the house organ of the FSLN and
would
instead take independent positions. Always regarded by
many
observers as the most professional of the three major
newspapers,
Barricada became the first public forum in which
Sandinista leaders expressed internal disagreements in
February
1992. The shift in popular outlook may have been made
possible by
the division of powers among the Sandinista commanders
after
their electoral defeat. Bayardo Arce Castaño became head
of the
FSLN's newspapers, radio stations, and television programs
and
was planning to establish a Sandinista television station.
Significantly, the first disagreement aired in
Barricada
was between Arce and Daniel Ortega. The third main daily,
El
Nuevo Diario, which had an estimated circulation of
40,000 to
45,000 in 1992 and was founded in 1980 by Xavier Chamorro
Cardenal, one of Violeta Chamorro's brothers-in-law,
continued
its loyal and uncritical posture of the FSLN, despite
expectations that with the end of the Contra war the
newspaper
would take more independent positions.
Several weekly newspapers also were published in the
early
1990s. The COSEP group brought out La Nicaragüense,
a
group headed by former vice president Sergio Ramírez
published
El Seminario in the early 1990s, and a Sandinista
group
continued Semana Cómica, a satirical tabloid. A new
weekly
newspaper, El Centroamericano, also appeared in
León in
the early 1990s.
Data as of December 1993
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