News representations in the prelude to the "war on drugs" in Colombia (1971-1978)

This article examines the hegemonic news representations about the responsibility of U.S. and Colombia in the production, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs (especially cocaine), during the 1970s (1971-1978), through a qualitative diachronic analysis of a sample of texts taken from El Tiempo and The New York Times newspapers. It is argued that the interpretations preferred by these newspapers on drug trafficking and drug consumption, as a significant problem in the relationship between both countries, were shaped not only under the prohibitionist paradigm but also from the news value that prescribes the subordination of the mainstream media to the 'national interest'. The dualistic scheme of the journalistic discourse promoted exculpatory explanations between the US and Colombia since the origin of the so-called 'war on drugs'.