Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando the media in Latin America the media in Latin America Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando National Media National Media Series Editor: Brian McNair “Ably edited, this volume offers an unusually wide-ranging collection of well-informed chapters by experts from across the region. For those who want to understand the current realities that shape media performance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Tierra del Fuego, here is the ideal starting-point.” Professor Philip Schlesinger, University of Glasgow, UK “For those of us in the area of Latin American studies, this text comes to fill a gap in the field, both in terms of teaching and research.” Charles Jones, Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge, UK The media’s role as a mechanism of control throughout Latin America has become increasingly sophisticated. Many repressive elements of the dictatorship periods have remained in place or have mutated into more subtle means of censorship and control. Media owners and political elites are more than keen to use the media’s increasingly prominent role in framing politics in the region, in order to pursue their own agenda and interests. This book provides a comprehensive and critical overview of some of the most important media systems in Latin America. Drawing on original and critical essays from some of the most prominent authors in the field, the author approaches the subject with a country-by-country analysis. The essays cover: • Media history • Organisation • The interrelationship of the media and the state • Media regulation, policy and ownership • Film, music, advertising and digital media The Media in Latin America is valuable reading for students of media, politics and journalism studies. Jairo Lugo-Ocando is a lecturer in Journalism Studies in the Department of Film, Media and Journalism at the University of Stirling, UK. His research interests include media and democratisation in South America and digital technologies and development policies. Cover photograph supplied by Nicola Rocco (Courtesy of El Universal) Cover design: del norte (Leeds) Ltd the media in Latin America Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando The media Latin America pb:The media Latin America pb 31/3/08 11:33 Page 1 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 1 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 08C34651 /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims The Media in Latin America www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 1 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 2 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 17FA9ED8 /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims NATIONAL MEDIAS Series editor: Brian McNair, University of Strathclyde National Medias is a series of textbooks designed to give readers an insight into some of the most important media systems throughout the world. Each book in the series provides a comprehensive overview of the media of a particular country or a geographical group of countries or nation states. Titles in the series The Media in Latin America Ed. Jairo Lugo-Ocando The Media in Italy: Press, Cinema and Broadcasting from Unification to Digital Matthew Hibberd www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 2 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 3 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 090467FE /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims THE MEDIA IN LATIN AMERICA Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 3 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 4 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 2C985ABA /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: enquiries@openup.co.uk world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121—2289, USA First published 2008 Copyright © Jairo Lugo-Ocando 2008 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 9780335222018 (pb) 9780335222025 (Hb) ISBN-10: 0335222013 (pb) 0335222021 (Hb) Typeset by Kerrypress, Luton, Bedfordshire Printed in Great Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow Fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters and/or data that may be used herein (in case studies or in examples) are not intended to represent any real individual, company, product or event. www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 4 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 5 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 08604781 /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims To my mentors and friends Pablo Bassim and Antonio J. Marcano, so Latin America becomes what they always wanted it to be … a space for justice and freedom. www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 5 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 6 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 04893E21 /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 6 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 7 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 38D3DE68 /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims CONTENTS The contributors ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 An introduction to the maquilas of power: media and political transition in Latin America 1 Jairo Lugo-Ocando 2 The media in Argentina: democracy, crisis and the reconfiguration of media groups 13 Patricia Vialey, Marcelo Belinche and Christian Tovar 3 The media in Bolivia: the market-driven economy, ‘shock therapy’ and the democracy that ended 29 Erick Torrico Villanueva 4 The media in Brazil: an historical overview of Brazilian broadcasting politics 46 Olga Guedes-Bailey and Othon F. Jambeiro Barbosa 5 The media in Chile: the restoration of democracy and the subsequent concentration of media ownership 61 Gustavo González-Rodríguez 6 The media in Colombia: beyond violence and a market-driven economy 78 Jorge Iván Bonilla, V. and Ancízar Narváez Montoya 7 The media in Costa Rica: many media, scarce communication 100 Carlos Sandoval-García 8 The media in Castro’s Cuba: every word counts 116 Juan Orlando Pérez 9 The media in Mexico: from authoritarian institution to hybrid system 131 Sallie Hughes 10 The media in Nicaragua: an escape valve for a dysfunctional democracy 150 Arturo Wallace-Salinas 11 The media in Paraguay: from the coverage of political democracy to the obsession with violence 167 Susana Aldana-Amabile www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 7 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 8 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 15C2850B /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims 12 The media in Peru: the challenge of constructing a meaningful democracy 179 Celia Aldana-Durán 13 The media in Venezuela: the revolution was televised, but no one was really watching 193 Andrés Cañizález and Jairo Lugo-Ocando 14 Beyond national media systems: a medium for Latin America and the struggle for integration 211 Andrés Cañizález and Jairo Lugo-Ocando References 229 www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica viii THE MEDIA IN LATIN AMERICA Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 8 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo−media in PAGE: 9 SESS: 27 OUTPUT: Thu Mar 27 13:21:29 2008 SUM: 4B9D20C8 /production/mcgraw−hill/booksxml/lugo/a−prelims THE CONTRIBUTORS Celia Aldana-Durán holds a BA from the University of Lima (Peru) and an MA in media studies from the University of Sussex (UK). She currently teaches communication and development at the University of Lima, and has worked extensively as a researcher and activist in the area with the media and communication think-tank Calandria. She is a strategic communication officer at Oxfam America and has published several works on the media, diversity and racism. Susana Aldana-Amabile holds a BA in communication studies and an MA in communication from the Methodist University of San Pablo (Brazil). She is director of the School of Communication Science at the Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Paraguay. She is co-author of ‘Las y los periodistas’, in Género y comunicación: el lado oscuro de los medios (2003) among other publications. Marcelo Belinche is the vice-dean of the Faculty of Communication and Journalism and a researcher at the Universidad Nacional de la Plata (Argentina). He is the editor of Medios, Política y Poder La Conforma- ción de Los Multimedios En La Argentina de Los 90 (2003) and co-author with Walter Miceli of Los procesos de edición periodística en los medios gráficos: el caso Clarín. Jorge Iván Bonilla, V. is an associated professor in the department of politics at the Escuela de Administración, Finanzas y Tecnología in Medellin. Before this he was an associate professor of the Department of Communication at the Pontifical Javeriana University (Colombia) and director of the masters programme. He is director of the think-tank Communication, Culture and Media and co-editor of the journal Signos. He has published extensively on the subject of media and violence in Colombia. Andrés Cañiza´lez is a lecturer and researcher at the Universidad Cato´lica Andres Bello in Caracas. He has published on political communication and speech freedom in Venezuela; among others Libertad de expressio´n: El gobierno de Hugo Cha´vez (2005), Politicas de ciudadanı´a y sociedad civil en tiempos de globalizacio´n (2004), Historianı´nima de los medios de comunicacion en Venezuela (2004). He was director of the Journal Communication, published by the Jesuit think-tank the Centro Gumilla and has just finished a project on media coverage of poverty funded by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. www.kerrypress.co.uk - 01582 451331 - www.xpp-web-services.co.uk McGraw Hill - 152mm x 229mm - Fonts: Sabon & Helvetica Kerrypress Ltd – Typeset in XML A Division: a-prelims F Sequential 9 [...]... an insight into the process of re-accommodating the various media as agents of power One of the elements that emerged during the writing of this book was that the media as a whole in Latin America has become an increasingly sophisticated mechanism of control, one that is less politicized and more oriented towards satisfying market needs within the ideological framework of liberal democracies in the. .. that finance these projects However, the situation for Latin America is by no means hopeless In many cases the region has embraced these media technologies while embarking on some interesting initiatives Some of these have been more successful than others, but they do not indicate any general trend There are mixed signs, too, in terms of media consumption The region has seen an exponential growth in telecommunications... offers an overview of the country’s media institutions He analyses the media in the context of the wider processes of urbanization, literacy and secularization Assessing the media in terms of ownership and audiences, he underlines the existence of oligopolies in the television, advertising and printed media sectors For him, the country’s media programming is characterized by a situation in which homogeneity... 11 analysis of the media Racial tensions and ethnic access and representation, not often explicitly recognized in Latin American politics (Klich and Rapoport 1997) or in media studies (Fox 2006), are at the core and not in the margins of social relations In the same way, gender plays a pivotal role in defining much of the content and news agenda, despite the fact that, in many Latin American countries,... the communication infrastructure, they also become more capable of shaping and defining the news agenda They now have immense power and influence, since they are capable of imposing the topics that public opinion will debate In this context, over time the telecommunications niche became a fruitful field for investors, which in turn had a significant impact in reshaping the media landscape Some of these... in the channel to Hadad in 2006 While Hadad was expanding, other media business people did the same This was the case for Grupo Clarín, which started to develop new strategies in order to become the leading media company in the country Before the 2001 crisis, Grupo Clarín had developed supplements for each area of the city, as a way to strengthen their position in the depressed advertising market These... projects in Latin America, the USA and Asia He also acquired the magazine La Primera from Hadad, and renamed it Poder Avila also acquired shares in Ámbito Financiero, the main business newspaper, which connected him to the journalistbusinessman Julio Ramos He also invested in the internet through the Uol-Sinectis company in partnership with Jorge Fontevecchia’s publishing house, Editorial Perfil SA After the. .. crisis Investors from Spain such as Telefónica did not give up completely in trying to consolidate a media project in the emerging Latin American market Their strategy consisted of creating local brands instead of trying to globalize their own mobile brand, so that by 2005 the individual brands were absorbed and replaced by MoviStar The company also bought other Latin subsidiaries from BellSouth, among them... element in relation to the USA The authors argue that an analysis of TeleSur allows an understanding of the vicissitudes concerning media systems in the context of the trade agreements and new political realities in the region The authors also believe that, by analysing this case, it is possible to get an idea of why relations with the USA are so pivotal in understanding Latin America s media systems in. .. consortium, of which they had been a part in the 1990s However, internal disputes in the channel resulted in the Vigils withdrawing as protagonists in the business Raúl Moneta was appointed at Channel 9 (Azul TV), running the Infocampo section, which dealt with agricultural management This is a key area of media coverage in Argentina, since it represents the most important aspect of the economy Moneta . norte (Leeds) Ltd the media in Latin America Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando The media Latin America pb :The media Latin America pb 31/3/08 11:33 Page 1 JOBNAME: McGraw−Lugo media in PAGE: 1 SESS:. overview of some of the most important media systems in Latin America. Drawing on original and critical essays from some of the most prominent authors in the field, the author approaches the subject. Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando the media in Latin America the media in Latin America Edited by Jairo Lugo-Ocando National Media National Media Series Editor: Brian McNair “Ably edited,