Media Coverage of Constitutional Court Rulings from Colombia and Mexico on the Right to Free Development of Personality

Abstract

In this article we analyze the media coverage of the rulings of the constitutional courts of Colombia and Mexico regarding the right to free development of personality, enshrined in Colombia with the 1991 Constitution and in Mexico based on the rulings of the Supreme Court in the first decade of the 21st century. Our interest is to account for what the media reports on what the courts decide and the inputs that people have to understand the rights. We tracked press releases that alluded to these rulings in newspapers of both countries and built a database that we processed with the NVivo software. We found that, despite the variety of subjects addressed in the rulings, in Mexico the media's attention was focused on those referring to marijuana use, while in Colombia the coverage was a little more balanced and attention was paid to various subjects such as personal appearance (especially in the school institutions) and discrimination based on sexual orientation. In both cases, what has been pointed out in the specialized literature seems to be confirmed, in the sense that the media pay attention to unfolding dramas, although there are other aspects to consider.