Skip to content
1981
image of News from an imagined community: Venezuelan journalism in the diaspora, professional identity and belonging

Abstract

This article examines how Venezuelan journalists in exile contribute to the formation of a symbolic transnational community by preserving collective memory and shaping narratives of identity and belonging. It explores their shift from traditional roles as information gatekeepers to becoming cultural mediators who reinterpret meaning across dispersed populations. Drawing on qualitative data, the study contends that journalistic practices beyond national borders are not merely reactive but actively reconstruct a sense of belonging. These professionals utilize digital platforms to engage diasporic audiences, fostering connections that transcend geographical boundaries. The article posits that such media spaces function as arenas for negotiating nationhood and sustaining cultural continuity. Ultimately, it suggests that journalism in exile plays a strategic role in redefining professional identity whilst reinforcing symbolic ties among Venezuelans living abroad.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00194_1
2025-11-21
2026-04-20

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Almandoz, A. (2014), Modernization, Urbanization and Development in Latin America, 1900s–2000s, London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson, B. (1991), Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, New York: Verso.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Anieting, A. and Mosugu, J. (2017), ‘Comparison of quota sampling and snowball sampling’, Indian Scholar, 3:3, pp. 3336, https://www.indianscholar.co.in/downloads/5-a.e.-anieting.pdf. Accessed 10 January 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Anteby-Yemini, L. (2004), ‘Promised land, imagined homelands: Ethiopian Jews’ immigration to Israel’, in F. Markowitz and A. H. Stefansson (eds), Homecomings: Unsettling Paths of Return, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp. 14664.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Associated Press (2024), ‘Más de 170 mil migrantes han cruzado la selva del Darién en 2024, la mayoría son de Venezuela’, Los Angeles Times, 7 June, https://www.latimes.com/espanol/internacional/articulo/2024-06-07/mas-de-170-mil-migrantes-han-cruzado-la-selva-del-darien-en-2024-la-mayoria-son-de-venezuela. Accessed 7 January 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Aznar, L. (1990), ‘Las transiciones desde el autoritarismo en Venezuela: El proyecto de Acción Democrática y sus efectos sobre el sistema sociopolítico’, Desarrollo Económico, 30:117, pp. 5583, https://doi.org/10.2307/3466972.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Borgucci, E. and Fuenmayor, J. (2013), ‘Antecedentes del debilitamiento institucional en Venezuela durante el gobierno de Luis Herrera Campins’, Espiral (Guadalajara), 20:56, pp. 17195, https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/138/13827198005.pdf. Accessed 15 January 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Brading, R. (2012), Populism in Venezuela, London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Cadenas, G. (2018), ‘The growing Venezuelan diaspora in the United States’, in P. Arrendondo (ed.), Latinx Immigrants: Transcending Acculturation and Xenophobia, Cham: Springer, pp. 21128.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Castells, M. (2011), The Power of Identity, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Don-Yehiya, E. (2012), ‘Orthodox and other American Jews and their attitude to the state of Israel’, Israel Studies, 17:2, pp. 12028, https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.17.2.120.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Fares, F. (2018), ‘WhatsApp and journalism: Analysis of the use of WhatsApp in the Spanish media’, Hipertext.net, 16, pp. 7892, https://doi.org/10.31009/hipertext.net.2018.i16.12.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Forment, C. A. (2013), Democracy in Latin America, 1760–1900: Volume 1, Civic Selfhood and Public Life in Mexico and Peru, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Freedom House (2023), Venezuela: Freedom in the World 2023 Country Report, New York: Freedom House.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Gadish, M. (2009), ‘Jewish Israeli identity in Naomi Shemer’s Songs: Central values of the Jewish Israeli “Imagined community”’, Sección de Hebreo, 58:1, pp. 4185, https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/meahhebreo/article/view/12529. Accessed 20 January 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) Venezuela (2024), ‘Periodistas en el Exilio: Aproximación a la Diáspora de la Prensa Venezolana’, 20 August, https://ipysvenezuela.org/2024/08/20/periodistas-en-el-exilio-aproximacion-a-la-diaspora-de-la-prensa-venezolana. Accessed 24 August 2024.
  17. Khalil, J. F. and Zayani, M. (2021), ‘De-territorialized digital capitalism and the predicament of the nation-state: Netflix in Arabia’, Media, Culture & Society, 43:2, pp. 20118, https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720932505.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Korin, E. (2021), ‘Inter/viewing from Afar: Navigating Venezuela’s culture of opacity through the lived experiences of journalists’, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 10:3, pp. 11736, https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2021.10.3.117.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Marchesi, M. and Lugo-Ocando, J. (2024), ‘Venezuela: Total collapse and aftermath of the media landscape’, in A. K. Schapals and C. Pentzold (eds), Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 27684.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Martín, R. (2016), ‘La conversación guasap’, Pragmática Sociocultural (Sociocultural Pragmatics), 4:1, pp. 10834, https://doi.org/10.1515/soprag-2015-0010.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Martín-Barbero, J. (1987), De los medios a las mediaciones: Comunicación, cultura y hegemonía, Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Mellor, N. (2008), ‘Arab journalists as cultural intermediaries’, The International Journal of Press/Politics, 13:4, pp. 46583, https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161208322873.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Ouahib, M. (2023), ‘Alteridad e identidad en la narrativa española contemporánea sobre la inmigración’, in H. Arabi, A. Ettahri and A. Vázquez Atochero (eds), Diáspora, identidad y desarrollo: Una aproximación a la realidad de la diaspora, Huelva: Editorial Universidad de Huelva, pp. 291300.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Pappe, I. (2016), The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge, New York: Verso.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Piñero, J. (2020), ‘Pocaterra periodista: La oposición a Gómez en el exilio (1922–1923)’, Tiempo y espacio, 38:74, pp. 14563, http://historico.upel.edu.ve:81/revistas/index.php/tiempo_y_espacio/article/view/8727. Accessed 8 January 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Pirovino, S. and Papyrakis, E. (2023), ‘Understanding the global patterns of Venezuelan migration: Determinants of an expanding diaspora’, Development Studies Research, 10:1, n.pag., https://doi.org/10.1080/21665095.2022.2147561.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Sixto-García, J., López-García, X. and Gómez de la Fuente, M. del C. (2021), ‘La mensajería instantánea como fuente informativa en la comunicación organizacional: WhatsApp business en México y España’, Comunicación y Sociedad, 18, pp. 126, https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v2021.7679.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Soffer, O. (2014), Mass Communication in Israel: Nationalism, Globalization, and Segmentation, New York: Berghahn Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Straka, T. (2023), ‘The Darien Gap: The boom of the Venezuelans’, ReVista, 1 November, https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-darien-gap-the-boom-of-the-venezuelans. Accessed 10 December 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Streeton, R., Cooke, M. and Campbell, J. (2004), ‘Researching the researchers: Using a snowballing technique’, Nurse Researcher, 12:1, pp. 3546, https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2004.07.12.1.35.c5929.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Velázquez García-Talavera, T. (2023), ‘El discurso sobre el exilio y la comunicación digital’, in H. Arabi, A. Ettahri, and A. Vázquez Atochero (eds), Diáspora, identidad y desarrollo: Una aproximación a la realidad de la diaspora, Huelva: Editorial Universidad de Huelva, pp. 5580.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Zelizer, B. (1993), ‘Journalists as interpretive communities’, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 10:3, pp. 21937, https://doi.org/10.1080/15295039309366865.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00194_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00194_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test