Abstract
Media democratization is a hot topic in nearly all South American countries. Reform demands and subsequent political conflicts emerge because of discrepancies between the inherited concentrated, commercial, and often conservative mass media on the one side, and the political positions of center-left governments as well as social demands for participatory democracy on the other. The election and re-election of governments from the center-left spectrum and with close ties to civil society movements have raised expectations about democratizing media reforms. However, such reforms have only taken place in some countries, while in others, little or nothing has changed. In this chapter, I will sum up the main findings of this study to show what makes media democratization possible. Finally, this study concludes by broadening the vision again, discussing how the struggle over media democratization is rooted in larger social and political developments including necessarily conflictual power shifts.
The best media law is the one that doesn’t exist.
(Eduardo Duhalde)
The best law is the best law.
(Catalina Botero)
Eduardo Duhalde was president of Argentina from 2002 to 2003 and oppositional presidential candidate in 2011 (quote cited in Alconada and Dapelo 2011, author'’s translation), the quote is a common argument among opponents of democratizing media laws. Catalino Botero is Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the OAS between 2008 and 2014 (quote cited in AMARC 2009: 346, author's translation).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Somewhat ironically, this is the result of provisions that restrict the ownership of licenses but allow for broadcasting networks. Consequently, the large media conglomerates own only a handful of broadcasting licenses themselves while the majority belongs to individuals, often politicians. Their stations then become affiliates of one of the large commercial networks, which provide them with content.
- 3.
The so-called “first generation” of human rights developed against the backdrop of the French and American Revolutions and principally comprises protection against encroachment of the state (“negative freedoms”). The second generation emerged at the turn of the last century and is concerned with social rights that require the active support of the state (Jacobson 1998: 395).
- 4.
A proposed loophole to solve the dilemma between universality and cultural sensitivity is a twofold definition: a “universal right to communicate” as a comprehensive framework, and “specific communication rights” as “a set or collection of rights capable of being defined and acted upon,” developed against the backdrop of specific cultural and historical contexts (Richstad and Harms 1977: 11; see also Jacobson 1998: 399f).
- 5.
To give one example of a paradoxical situation, Chile in 2010 was the first country in the world to pass a law that legally enshrined net neutrality, although it is among the countries with the most restrictive legal environment for democratic broadcasting in the continent.
- 6.
Santos (2007: 14, author’s translation) has summed up the ambivalences in a somewhat ironic way: “Today we have reformist processes that appear revolutionary; this is probably the case for Bolivia and Venezuela. On the other side we have revolutionary processes that appear reformist, as is the case for the Zapatistas in Chiapas. And we have, as I usually joke a little, reformist processes that do not even appear reformist, as is the case for Lula in Brazil.”
References
Acuña, C. H., & Vacchieri, A. (Eds.). (2007). La incidencia política de la sociedad civil. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI.
Alconada, H., & Dapelo, S. (2011, January 15). “Seré el presidente del orden”: Eduardo Duhalde. La Nación.
AMARC (2009). Anexo 2: Conferencia Libertad de Expresión, Pluralismo y Diversidad en la Radiodifusión, Seminario Internacional Las Mordazas Invisibles. In AMARC (Ed.), Las mordazas invisibles (pp. 341–348). Buenos Aires: Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias.
Avritzer, L. (2002). Democracy and the public space in Latin America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Barbosa, B. (2005, March 3). OEA constata violações e pede mudanças nas leis brasileiras. Carta Maior. Accessed March 11, 2013, from http://www.cartamaior.com.br/templates/materiaMostrar.cfm?materia_id=3179
Benwell, M. C., Haselip, J., & Borello, J. A. (2013). Housing, security, and employment in post-neoliberal Buenos Aires. Latin American Perspectives, 40(2), 146–167.
Cameron, M. (2009). Latin. America’s left turns: Beyond good and bad third world quarterly, 30(2), 331–348.
Cammaerts, B., & Carpentier, N. (Eds.). (2007). Reclaiming the media. Communication rights and democratic media roles. Bristol: Intellect.
Clewley, R. (2001). I have a (digital) dream. Accessed July 18, 2013, from http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/04/43349
Dorfman, A., & Mattelart, A. (1975). How to read Donald Duck: Imperialist ideology in the disney comic. New York: I. G. Editions.
Elías, A. (Ed.). (2006). Los gobiernos progresistas en debate. Montevideo: Clacso.
Ellner, S. (2013). Latin America’s radical left in power. Complexities and challenges in the twenty-first century. Latin American Perspectives, 40(3), 5–25.
Hargittai, E. (2008). The digital reproduction of inequality. In D. Grusky (Ed.), Social stratification (pp. 936–944). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Hellman, J. A. (1992). The study of new social movements in Latin America and the question of autonomy. In A. Escobar & S. E. Alvarez (Eds.), The making of social movements in Latin America—Identity, strategy, and democracy (pp. 52–51). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Hervieu, B. (2010, October 20). Defender la ley SCA no es traicionar nuestro mandato. Página/12.
Hintz, A. (2007). Civil society media at the WSIS: A new actor in global communication governance? In B. Cammaerts & N. Carpentier (Eds.), Reclaiming the media. Communication rights and democratic media roles (pp. 243–264). Bristol: Intellect.
Holloway, J. (2002). Change the world without taking power: The meaning of revolution today. London: Pluto Press.
Jacobson, T. L. (1998). Discourse ethics and the right to communicate. Gazette, 60(5), 395–413.
Katz, C. (2005, May 10). Los problemas del autonomismo. Buenos Aires. Accessed November 10, 2007, from http://www.lahaine.org/b2-img/katz_aut.pdf
Keck, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). Activists beyond borders. Transnational advocacy networks in international politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Kitzberger, P. (2009). Las relaciones gobierno-prensa y el giro político en América Latina. PostData, 14, 157–181.
Lauría, C. (2014). Uruguay’s Edison Lanza has work cut out as new OAS special rapporteur on freedom of expression. Accessed July 26, 2014, from http://cpj.org/x/5c2f
Lupien, P. (2013). The media in Venezuela and Bolivia. Attacking the “Bad Left” from below. Latin American Perspectives, 40(3), 226–246.
Marsden, C. T. (2010). Net neutrality: Towards a co-regulatory solution. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Mauersberger, C. (2011, June 23–25). Nothing new in the Western Hemisphere? The changing state-society relations in post-neoliberal regimes of Latin America. Paper presented at the SASE’s 23rd Annual Meeting, Madrid.
Mauersberger, C. (2013). Commercial markets or communication rights? International norms and the democratisation of media markets in Argentina and Brazil. Journal für Entwicklungspolitik, 24(2), 51–68.
Mueller, M. L., Kuerbis, B. N., & Pagé, C. (2007). Democratizing global communication? Global civil society and the campaign for communication rights in the information society. International Journal of Communication, 1, 267–296.
Negri, A., & Hardt, M. (2002). Imperio. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
Negri, A., & Hardt, M. (2004). Multitud—Guerra y democracia en la era del Imperio. Buenos Aires: Debate.
Nordenstreng, K. (2001). Epilogue. In N. Morris & S. Waisbord (Eds.), Media and globalization: Why the state matters (pp. 155–160). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Oxhorn, P., & Ducatenzeiler, G. (1998). Economic reform and democratization in Latin America. In P. Oxhorn & G. Ducatenzeiler (Eds.), What kind of democracy? What kind of market? (pp. 3–19). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania state University Press.
Petkoff, T. (2005). Las dos izquierdas. Nueva Sociedad, 197, 114–128.
Petras, J., & Veltmeyer, H. (2009). What’s left in Latin America? Farnham: Ashgate.
Ramírez Gallegos, F. (2006). Mucho más que dos izquierdas. Nueva Sociedad, 205, 30–44.
Ramos, M. C. (2010). Possibilidade de uma nova agenda para as políticas de comunicação na América Latina. RECIIS Revista Electrônica de Comunicação, Informação & Inovação em Saúde, 4(4), 20–28.
Richstad, J., & Harms, L. S. (1977). Preface: Dynamics of the right to communicate—A brief history of the concept. In J. Richstad & L. S. Harms (Eds.), Evolving perspectives on the right to communicate (pp. 1–14). Honolulu, HI: East–west Center.
Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2011). Toward post-neoliberalism in Latin America. Latin American Research Review, 46(2), 225–234.
Sader, E. (2008). The weakest link? Neoliberalism in Latin America. New Left Review, 52, 5–31.
Sader, E. (2009). Postneoliberalism in Latin America. Development Dialogue, 51, 171–179.
Santos, B. d. S. (2007). Reinventando la emancipación social. Discurso, Alianza Francesa, La Paz.
Schmalz, S., & Tittor, A. (Eds.). (2008). Jenseits von Subcomandante Marcos und Hugo Chávez. Soziale Bewegungen zwischen Autonomie und Staat. Hamburg: VSA-Verlag.
Sengupta, A. (2000). The right to development as a human right. François-Xavier Bagnoud center for health and human rights. Boston: Harvard School for Public Health.
Stahler-Sholk, R., & Vanden, H. E. (2011). A second look at Latin American Social Movements: Globalizing resistance to the neoliberal paradigm. Latin American Perspectives, 38(1), 5–13.
Stewart, F. (1989). Basic needs strategies, human rights, and the right to development. Human Rights Quarterly, 11, 347–374.
Télam (2009). La Rue: La Argentina es Modelo. Accessed September 28, 2011, from http://www.comfer.gov.ar/web/blog/?p=2306
UDHR (1948, December 10). Universal declaration of human rights. New York: United Nations General Assembly. Accessed January 9, 2006, from http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
UNESCO. (1980). Many voices, one world. Towards a new, more just and more efficient world information and communication order. London: Kogan Page.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mauersberger, C. (2016). Conclusions and Outlook. In: Advocacy Coalitions and Democratizing Media Reforms in Latin America. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21278-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21278-4_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21277-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21278-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)