Arepas, tortillas and beijús: Heterogeneity of communicative struggles in Latin America

Abstract

In the 21st century, the fronts and coalitions defending community media and media pluralism have been revealed as the newest political agent in the public and legal debate on media regulation from Argentina to Mexico. Nevertheless these groups presented differing and sometimes conflicting conceptions of how to achieve media pluralism. This article seeks to explicate this apparent heterogeneity, from the view that the intrinsic diversity of “media activism” reflects distinct experiences, political projects and philosophical bases. At the same time, these multiple actors articulate from similar positions of marginality and a common history of political exclusion regarding the media. This article serves as an invitation to investigate the concepts and practices of the main media struggles in the 20thcentury with a view to proposing a typology capable of elucidating these experiences. The hypothesis is that these plural origins are at the base of the internal disputes, interaction dynamics and barriers to the creation of a Latin American movement in defense of “another communication” in the face of the power asymmetries of the State and the Market. Keywords: Civil Society, Political Communication, Community MediaSubmission date: 2010-12-30Acceptance date: 2011-02-03