Swallows Did Not Return Home. Media Coverage of Rural Workers During the Pandemic

Abstract

In this article we propose to show how gender, class and race influenced the construction of the media agenda of Argentina, during the Social, Preventive and Obligatory Isolation (ASPO) imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on the lack of information about the realities of indigenous women stranded in various places in Argentina, because of the quarantine imposed. We concentrate on the campaign #ElDerechoARetornarAcasa, developed by the Movement of Indigenous Women for Good Living in Argentina, whose purpose was to expose the situation to the media and, with this, achieve a State solution. To fulfill the proposed objective, we carried out a survey of what was published by three Argentine newspapers on their digital platform —Página|12, Clarín and La Nación— during the first days of the establishment of the quarantine. We focus on news about seasonal workers who were unable to return to their homes due to the quarantine that was stipulated from March 20, 2020, without having an expected completion date.