Against the current: The emergence of a media democratization policy agenda in Latin America

Abstract

In Latin America, the role of the media in democratic societies has recently become the subject of public debates, struggles and political mobilizations that have denaturalized the existing media order and established a distinct policy agenda oriented towards media democratization. This region-wide trend – a counter-tendency to the globally dominant market-driven orientation of media and telecommunication policies – requires explanation. This article stresses that it cannot be attributed to a spontaneous reaction to market concentration or media elitism, just as it cannot be reduced to a top-down process driven by populist leaders seeking to control the media. Drawing on social movement literature, the article traces four interacting processes – domestic network mobilization, reframing processes, transnational activism and changes in political elite alignments – that have brought about the unprecedented politicization of the Latin American media order.