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Based on the analysis of twenty-one press releases about the fire of the popular settlement La Mano de Dios (Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, March 6, 2003), the article seeks to show that the way regional newspapers covered this disaster aimed, through a specific method of constructing reality, to reinforce the figures now widely known as victims, at the expense of their historical role as displaced persons and the burden that entails. The hypothesis that, through this strategy of disinformation, characterized by a biased framing, the newspapers execute a semantic shift (from displaced to victims) that ultimately benefits the image of the dominant hegemony. This is because it not only absolves the hegemonic powers from any responsibility for displacement in the context of the internal armed conflict --an outcome of state neglect-- but also portrays them as the primary providers of aid and benefits to the victims of such tragedies, which are, it should be noted, not uncommon in the daily life of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]