Student Voices Are Missing From Mexican National News

What is it about?

This article examines how Mexican national newspapers represent university students and, just as importantly, what they leave out. The study focuses on news coverage published between 2018 and 2022 in three major newspapers with national reach: La Jornada, Milenio, and El Universal. Using the theory of the social construction of reality, the authors explore how journalism helps shape public ideas about who university students are, what roles they play in society, and which aspects of their lives are considered newsworthy. The research is based on a content analysis of 103 news articles that mention university students. The analysis looks at who speaks about young people, the labels used to describe them, the topics emphasized (such as education, activism, or violence), and the sections of the newspaper where these stories appear. Special attention is paid to whether students are treated as active subjects with a voice or merely as objects of discourse spoken about by others.

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Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash

Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The findings reveal a troubling pattern. University students appear rarely and unevenly in the national press, and when they do, their representation is often simplified and limiting. They are most frequently described as “students,” “activists,” or “actors for development,” labels that reduce their identities either to academic performance or to moments of protest. Crucially, only 6% of the analyzed articles allow students to speak for themselves, while the vast majority rely on journalists, government officials, or institutional authorities to define who young people are and what they represent. The study also shows that coverage tends to focus on conflict, violence, or crisis—such as protests, gender-based violence, or disappearances—without offering deeper context or sustained attention to students’ everyday experiences, structural challenges, or diversity of backgrounds. As a result, the press contributes to an adult-centered narrative that sidelines young people’s voices and reinforces a narrow social imaginary about youth and higher education. Overall, the article argues that these patterns matter because the press plays a powerful role in shaping social reality. By limiting how university students are portrayed, news media influence how society understands youth, citizenship, and participation. More responsible, inclusive, and nuanced journalistic practices could recognize university students as complex social actors with the right to be heard.