Following an extensive overview by editors Elizabeth Fox and Silvio Waisbord, the contributors investigate the interaction of local politics and global media in individual Latin American countries. Some of the issues they discuss include the privatization and liberalization of the media, the rise of media conglomerates, the impact of trade agreements on media industries, the role of the state, the mediazation of politics, the state of public television, and the role of domestic and global forces. The contributors address these topics with a variety of theoretical approaches, combining institutional, historical, economic, and legal perspectives.
Elizabeth Fox is Senior Advisor, Health Communications, USAID in Washington, D.C. Silvio Waisbord is Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and Director of the Journalism Resource Institute at Rutgers University.