The Discursive Construction of Suicide in the Uruguayan Press: An Analysis of the Representation of Social Actors

Abstract

This article examines how suicide and individuals who died by suicide were represented in news coverage published by the Uruguayan newspapers El País and La Diaria between 2019 and 2022. Drawing on Critical Discourse Studies and using a qualitative design grounded in Theo van Leeuwen’s theory of social actor representation, headlines and news articles were analyzed to identify the discursive strategies through which both outlets symbolically construct the social actors involved and the phenomenon itself. Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and in Uruguay the rates are among the highest in Latin America, underscoring the importance of journalistic treatment in shaping collective meaning. The findings show that both newspapers predominantly relied on forms of representation centered on individualization, with subtle differences in their discursive choices. El País located agency exclusively in the individual and rendered institutional responsibility invisible, whereas La Diaria, although introducing institutional responsibility in a more subtle way, did not consistently situate the structural factors involved in suicide.
The study concludes that, through these representational choices, journalistic coverage largely overlooked the responsibility of the broader social and institutional environment.