Maintaining and enhancing political power via the mass media: The rhetoric of H. R. Chavez, President of Venezuela

The purpose of this project is to analyze the constitutive character of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez's oratory and the role of the mass media in sustaining his political power. Three research questions guided this study: What are the ways in which Chavez organizes his discourse? What are the cultural imperatives that Chavez incorporates into his discourse? What are the ways in which televised oral discourse contributes to political leadership?; This paper argues that Chavez has maintained and enhanced his political power by developing a sense of identification with his target audience that is based on focusing his oratory on five specific themes, and on offering to people, via the mass media, a participatory platform to communicate with him and to experience what his revolution is all about. The specific themes he incorporates in his oratory are: references to past governments; an invitation to join the revolution, including efforts to unify citizenry; references to the revolution; promoting the government's plans and achievements; and references to and condemnation of economic neoliberalism.; The sample discourses included four speeches delivered to Venezuelans between 1999 and 2003; they were analyzed using discourse analysis. The speeches selected were Chavez's first inaugural, delivered on February 2, 1999; Chavez's second inaugural, delivered on August 19, 2000; the Restitution of Powers speech, delivered on April 14, 2002; and an Annual Address delivered on January 17, 2003. In addition, eight people were interviewed to learn more about their reactions to Chavez's oratory.; This paper concludes that Chavez's oratory is an example of constitutive rhetoric, and it has helped to sustain his political power. Through his discourse Chavez has been able to transform a politically apathetic audience and disunified country into a people so attached to him and to his ideology that they re-elected him president of the country, fought against a coup d'etat, and continued to maintain him in power despite the country's high poverty and unemployment rate.