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

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 debates and 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.

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).