From Crime to Crisis: Media Narratives of Extortion and Economic Decline in Ecuador

This article examines how Ecuadorian digital media have portrayed the phenomenon of vacunas—an extortion practice targeting small businesses—between January and July 2025. Through qualitative content analysis and semiotic analysis, this study reviews news items, reports, interviews, editorials and chronicles published in eight major national outlets (Expreso, El Universo, El Comercio, El Mercurio, La Hora, GK, Primicias and Extra). Findings reveal that the media frame vacunas not only as a criminal act but also as a structural threat that deepens unemployment, territorial disputes, economic decline, business closures and migration. Symbolic representations of fear, power and vulnerability permeate both textual and visual narratives, reinforcing imaginaries of crisis and uncertainty. The article concludes that media coverage does more than inform; it constructs interpretative frameworks that shape how citizens, institutions and policymakers perceive insecurity, linking everyday extortion with broader debates on governance, economic fragility and social cohesion in Ecuador.