Media and Accountability in Latin America: Framework – Conditions – Instruments

557 Pages·2019·6.72 MB·English

by  Mariella Bastian

Studies in International, Transnational
and Global Communications
Mariella Bastian
Media and
Accountability
in Latin America
Framework – Conditions –
Instruments
Studies in International, Transnational
and Global Communications
Series Editors
Carola Richter, Berlin, Germany
Michael Brüggemann, Hamburg, Germany
Susanne Fengler, Dortmund, Germany
Sven Engesser, Dresden, Germany
Um angesichts zunehmender Globalisierung Kommunikationsprozesse und
Medienentwicklungen zu verstehen, ist eine Perspektiverweiterung über
staatliche und kulturelle Grenzen hinweg unerlässlich. Eine Vielzahl von
medienvermittelter Kommunikation entwickelt sich jenseits von oder quer
zu nationalstaatlichen Grenzen. Gleichzeitig gilt es, die Beharrungskräfte von
Nationalstaaten nicht zu vernachlässigen und in vergleichenden Perspektiven
Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten bei Medienentwicklungen in v erschiedenen
Ländern und Regionen herauszuarbeiten und zu erklären. Studien zu Formen
medienvermittelter Kommunikation in allen Weltregionen sollen helfen, den
Blick für Phänomene der Globalisierung und ihrer Auswirkungen auf Medien
und Kommunikation zu erweitern.
Die Reihe ist offen für eine Bandbreite an Feldern der Kommunikationswissen-
schaft, für die internationale und transnationale Ansätze konstitutiv sind oder
fruchtbar gemacht werden können, wie zum Beispiel Auslands- und Kriegsbe-
richterstattung, Journalismusforschung, Public Diplomacy, Medien und Trans-
formation, politische Kommunikation, Mediensystemforschung (Medienpolitik,
Medienökonomie), Nutzungsforschung, Medien und Migration. Genauso sind
unterschiedliche theoretische und methodische Zugänge der sozialwissenschaftli-
chen Forschung willkommen. Die Reihe soll dabei sowohl aktuelle Fall- und Län-
derstudien als auch Überblicksdarstellungen beinhalten.
In the face of increasing globalization, understanding communication proces-
ses and media developments requires a widening of perspective beyond national
and cultural boundaries. A multitude of mediated communications is developing
beyond or across national borders. At the same time, it is important not to neglect
the enduring force of nation-states, and to identify and explain differences and
similarities in media developments in various countries and regions using compa-
rative perspectives. Studies on forms of mediated communication in all regions of
the world should help to broaden the view on the phenomena of globalization and
their impact on media and communication.
The series is open for a variety of topics related to international and transnational
communication, such as foreign and war reporting, comparative journalism rese-
arch and political communications, public diplomacy, media and transformation,
media systems research (media policy, media economics), audience research,
media and migration. Theoretical and methodological approaches from different
social sciences are welcome. The series intends to include current case studies
and country-specific studies as well as broader overviews.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15233
Mariella Bastian
Media and Accountability
in Latin America
Framework – Conditions – Instruments
Mariella Bastian
University of Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Doctoral dissertation, TU Dortmund University (Germany), Faculty of Culture Studies, 2018
ISSN 2569-1481 ISSN 2569-149X (electronic)
Studies in International, Transnational and Global Communications
ISBN 978-3-658-24786-7 ISBN 978-3-658-24787-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24787-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018963839
Springer VS
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Acknowledgements
ThisbookoriginatesfrommyPhDthesisdefendedatTUDortmundUni-
versity,Germany. First,Iwouldliketoexpressmysinceregratitudetomy
supervisorProf. Dr. SusanneFenglerforherenormoussupportthroughout
myPhD,andtomysecondsupervisorProf. Dr. JoBardoel, whosework
inspiredmealot,forhishelpfulcommentsandencouragingwords. Very
special thanks to my brother Damian, who taught me so much not only
aboutstatisticsandmethodology,andkeptmefromgettinglostinthewhole
academia jungle. One friendship that became very special to me has its
rootsinacademia,butbecamequicklymuchmorethanafruitfulexchange
ofideasbetweencolleaguesworkinginsimilarareas: Débora,thanksalot!
ThankstomyinterviewpartnersinBrazil,Argentina,andUruguay,the
friendsandcolleaguesImetduringmystaysinLatinAmerica,whosupported
myideatoresearchmediaaccountabilityinLatinAmerica,helpedmeto
findcontacts,andofferedhintsandencouragingwords. Aboveall,thanksto
FernandoOliveiraPaulinoandEduardoHeleno. Ialsothankmyfriendsand
formercolleaguesattheErichBrostInstituteforinternationaljournalism
for unforgettable experiences. This research project – including the field
phaseinLatinAmerica–wouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthegenerous
financialsupportoftheHannsSeidelFoundation. Thefruitfuldiscussions
inourgraduateschoolhelpedmetofindtherightdirectionformyproject
andtoreconsiderdecisions. FurtherthanksgotoCristianandTammy.
I would like to express very particular gratitude to my family for their
supportandandunequivocalconfidenceinmeandthisproject. Thanksto
my parents for always backing me and encouraging me. David, you have
always been empathetic for my saudade do Brasil, and been by my side.
YourandNiklas’supportandlovesustainedandmotivatedmeduringthe
pastyears. Thankyouforbeingthere.
Contents
ListofFigures XIII
ListofTables XV
ListofAbbreviations XVII
I Framework 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 HoldingLatinAmericanmediaaccountable . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Outlineofthisstudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay: Historical and political back-
ground 15
2.1 Basicinformationand(post-)colonialhistory . . . . . . . 16
2.2 Militarydictatorships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3 Democratizationprocesses,neoliberalism,andtheshiftto
theleft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4 Currentpoliticalandeconomicdevelopments . . . . . . . 56
VIII Contents
3 Brazil,Argentina,Uruguay: Medialandscapes 63
3.1 History,structure,andnewsconsumption . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2 Freedomofthepress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.3 Mediaownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.4 Mediaandpolitics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.5 Legalframework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3.6 Regulatoryauthorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
3.7 Communitymediaandmediademocratization . . . . . . . 104
4 De-westernizing the media accountability approach: To-
wardsaLatinAmericandesignofaccountabilityframes 113
4.1 Thenatureofdemocracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.2 Comparingmediasystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.3 Mediagovernance,policy,andregulation . . . . . . . . . 142
4.4 Investigatingmediaaccountability . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
4.4.1 Mediaself-regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
4.4.2 Audienceparticipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.4.3 Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.4.4 Media accountability: Definition and the role of
LatinAmerica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.5 Mediaperformancebetweenglobalizationandlocalism . . 165
4.6 Frameworkforanalyzingconditionsforthedevelopmentof
mediaaccountabilityinLatinAmerica . . . . . . . . . . . 174
II Empiricalapproachandmethodologicalbackground 183
5 From framework to conditions and instruments: The re-
searchinterestofthisstudy 185
5.1 Researchquestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
5.2 Structureoftheempiricalparts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6 Methodologicalapproach 191
6.1 Deskresearchandexpertinterviews . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
6.2 Quantitativecontentanalysisandclusteranalysis . . . . . 207
Contents IX
III Accountabilityframes 215
7 Professionalaccountabilityframe 217
7.1 Journalists’trainingandeducation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.2 Safetyofjournalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
7.3 Freedomofthepressandfreedomofexpression . . . . . . 225
7.4 Journalisticindependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8 Publicaccountabilityframe 237
8.1 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
8.2 Civilrightsandparticipationofcivilsociety . . . . . . . . 241
8.3 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
8.4 Socialinequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
8.5 Lackofpluralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
9 Politicalaccountabilityframe 255
9.1 Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.2 Formofgovernmentanddemocratizationofcommunication 270
9.3 Relationshipbetweenpoliticsandmedia . . . . . . . . . . 273
10 Marketaccountabilityframe 283
10.1 Precarizationofthejournalisticprofession . . . . . . . . . 284
10.2 Ownershipstructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
10.3 Distributionofpublicfundsandadvertisement . . . . . . . 297
11 Analyzing conditions for media accountability in Latin
America: Updatingthemodel 301
IV Mediaaccountabilityinstruments 309
12 The status quo of online media accountability in Latin
America 311
12.1 Onlinemediaaccountabilityactivitiesofnewsrooms: Intro-
ducingatypology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
12.2 ThecasesofBrazil,Argentina,andUruguay . . . . . . . . 322
X Contents
13 MediaaccountabilityinstrumentsinBrazil,Argentina,and
Uruguay: Nature,prerequisites,andimportance 327
13.1 Mediaself-regulationinstruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
13.1.1 Ombudsmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
13.1.2 Internalfeedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
13.1.3 Codesofethicsandmissionstatements . . . . . . 338
13.2 Participatoryinstruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
13.2.1 Evaluationofarticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
13.2.2 Errorbuttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
13.2.3 Usercommentsandletterstotheeditor . . . . . . 352
13.2.4 Crowdsourcingplatforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
13.2.5 Readers’advisoryboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
13.2.6 Socialmediaasacommunicationchannelbetween
traditionalmediaandthepublic . . . . . . . . . . 365
13.2.7 Contactopportunitiestoauthors . . . . . . . . . . 366
13.2.8 Contactopportunitiesforcomplaints . . . . . . . . 368
13.3 Transparencyinstruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
13.3.1 Newsroomblogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
13.3.2 Errorcorrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
13.3.3 Updatesofarticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
13.4 Betweenself-regulationanduserparticipation: Mediamon-
itoringandmediacriticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
13.4.1 Observatories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
13.4.2 Blogsaboutthemediaandfactcheckinginitiatives 409
13.4.3 Mediasectionsintraditionalmedia . . . . . . . . 418
13.4.4 Satiricalmediacriticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
13.5 Combinationofseveralmediaaccountabilityinstruments . 421
14 Special cases and typology of media accountability instru-
mentsinLatinAmerica 427
14.1 Differingdesignsofmediaaccountabilityinstruments: The
caseofpresscouncilsandethicscommittees . . . . . . . . 427
14.2 A fine line between regulation and self-regulation: Co-
regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440