Whose voice gets on air? The role of community radio and recent reforms to democratize media markets in Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile

Abstract

The media sector is vital to the quality of democracies, yet its products or services are oftentraded in commercial markets. In Latin America, media markets are usually dominated byonly a few large commercial media companies. Regulation often dates back to the times ofmilitary dictatorships, while neoliberal reforms have later accelerated concentrationtendencies and increased the emphasis on commercial logics. The current state of the mediasector is increasingly criticized as posing severe limits to processes of democraticdeliberation, illegitimately concentrating political power and complementing other forms ofsocial exclusion. In the last few years, calls for democratizing media markets have beenechoed in some countries by policy reforms in the broadcasting sector. This paper sketches theregulatory challenge of democratizing predominantly commercial and concentratedbroadcasting markets in Latin America. I demonstrate that commercial diversification is anecessary but not sufficient condition for plural media markets. Furthermore, debates about―democratization‖ go beyond the commercial diversity of media channels and rather addressthe conditions of access to the public sphere. Against the background of recent legislation inUruguay, Argentina and Chile, I identify a trend toward the promotion of non-commercialbroadcasters. Although media regulation is partly modernized to account for democraticdemands, the extent of the reforms differs greatly. As the democratization of concentratedmedia markets conflicts with the interests of commercial firms, such reforms are only to beexpected where active social movements push for changes.

Keywords: Latin America (Uruguay, Argentina, Chile); democratization of media markets;media regulation; community radios

Submission date: 2011-11-24

Acceptance date: 2011-11-24