Peruvian Infotainment: From Fujimori's Media Dictatorship to Democracy's Satire

Abstract

This article explores how Peruvian sensational and spectacular media served the authoritarian discourse of Alberto Fujimori's government (1990-2000), and how TV infotainment evolved under democracy after 2000. Through interviews with producers and hosts of the TV shows and by reviewing specific episodes and media events, this article analyses five of the most representative Peruvian infotainment TV shows of the last two decades in Peru. Building upon a theory on media spectacle, infotainment and tabloidisation, this research shows how an increasing process of media hybridity-the blending of journalism, entertainment, politics, and popular culture-has challenged traditional notions of journalism and has become a prevalent strategy of new political communication forms in Peru, connecting with the global trend towards political infotainment in the media.