Depiction of Indigenous Communities in Print Media During the Peruvian Presidential Election in 2021

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the representation of indigenous communities in Peru during a specific political process, the presidential election of 2021. Since Peru is one of the countries in Latin America with the largest indigenous populations, it is important to understand the historical social exclusion this group has experienced from political participation, to its lack of representation in the political scene, and the role media has played in depicting this group and their contribution to Peruvian society. Through the lenses of framing theory and muted group theory this thesis aims to identify how indigenous communities were depicted and how much exposure this community had during the presidential campaign in 2021 when the left-leaning candidate Pedro Castillo opposed the right-leaning candidate Keiko Fujimori. This thesis conducted a quantitative content analysis, the data were collected from two influential newspapers in Peru, El Comercio which is considered right-leaning and La República which is considered left-leaning. The findings improve our understanding of how wide-circulation traditional media treat indigenous communities and their roles during a presidential campaign.