The International Political Economy of Communication Media and Power in South America

by Martens, Cheryl; Vivares, Ernesto; McChesney, Robert W.

• ISBN13: 9781137434678
• ISBN10: 1137434678
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-10-28
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Debates concerning media and democracy around the world are increasingly bringing into question the relations of power between media corporations and the state. These debates are particularly pronounced in South America, where re-democratization since the 1990s and struggles for media power, following the collapse of the military dictatorships, are transforming the public sphere in countries across the continent. Presenting a range of case studies by prominent media and politics scholars, this volume contextualizes the current media landscape in relation to the substantive changes taking place across South America. Such changes involve a new political economy of communication and development, whereby new democracies are fighting to resolve decades of market crises and political instability, challenging the status quo, and where new media spaces are creating avenues for wider pluralism.

Author Biography

Cheryl Martens is Senior Lecturer in the Media School at Bournemouth University, UK. Her research and publications concentrate on the sociology and political economy of communication and media policy, and she is currently working on a documentary on media reform in South America.

Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois, USA. He is the co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. McChesney has written or edited twenty-seven books, which have been translated into thirty-one languages, and he is the editor, with John Nerone, of the History of Communication series.

Ernesto Vivares is Professor in the International Relations and Communications Department at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Ecuador. His work focuses on the political economy of South American regionalism and development. Recent books include: Financing Regional Growth and the Inter-American Development Bank (2013) and Exploring the New South American Regionalism (2014).

Table of Contents

Introduction; Cheryl Martens and Ernesto Vivares
PART I: MEDIA, POWER AND DEMOCRACY IN THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
1. The Struggle for Democratic Media: Lessons from the North and from the Left; Robert W. McChesney
2. Media Democracy and Reform in South America: Lessons for Europe; David McQueen
PART II: THE POLITICS AND CULTURAL PRACTICES OF MEDIA AND POWER IN SOUTH AMERICA
3. The Dispute Over Public Opinion: The mediatization of politics and the politicization of the media in Ecuador; Mauro Cerbino, Isabel Ramos, Diana Coryat, Marcia Maluf
4. Argentina's Audiovisual Communication Services Law No. 26.522: Cultural practices, power and communication; Susana Sel and Pablo Gasloli
5. Media and Empowerment in Venezuela: Toward a participatory public-mediatic space; Ximena Gonzalez Broquen
6. The Internet for the Public Interest: Overcoming the digital divide in Brazil; Carolina Mato
7. Media as Political Opposition: The neverending battle; Roberto Follari
PART III: REGIONALISM AND THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNICATION
8. Media and Multilateralism in South America: How the International Matters to Domestic Media Reform; Katherine M. A. Reilly
9. Community Media and Policy hacking: Connecting South American policy debates to international media reform movements; Arne Hintz
10. Conclusions: Toward a critical IPE of Media, Power and Regionalism; Cheryl Martens and Ernesto Vivares