ICA conference: Television, popular culture and identity (original) (raw)

Media Systems and Communication Policies in Latin America analyzes the conflicting roles that global, regional, and local forces play in the shaping of media systems, policies, and industries in Latin America. These forces have developed what is called a captured liberal model, which is used as a theoretical concept to explain the communication policies, the configuration of media systems, the realities of journalism or the contexts of cultural industries in the region. The intentional lack of regulation enforcement, the pragmatic exercise of power, and the configuration of alliances between media barons and political elites all help to explain why private media developed early and why its concentration is so high in Latin America. Moreover, the fact that media conglomerates emerged under the auspices of dictatorships and authoritarian rule clashes with the existing assumptions that private ownership entails distance and autonomy from the state. Their emergence also dispels the assumption that authoritarian states need to employ harsh regulation and secure administration or control of the media to better exert and legitimize power. This collection aims to offer fresh perspectives on old issues that have long preoccupied the academic community in Latin America. Introduction: Communications Policies and Media Systems in the Age of (anti) Neoliberal Politics; Mireya Márquez-Ramírez and Manuel Alejandro Guerrero 1. Latin America Media and the Limitations of the 'Globalization' Paradigm; Silvio Waisbord 2. The 'Liberal-Captured' Model of Media Systems in Latin America; Manuel Alejandro Guerrero 3. In Search of a model for the Colombian Media System Today; Catalina Montoya Londoño 4. Media Systems and Political Action in Peru; Javier Protzel 5. The Complex Relationship Between the Media and the Political System in Argentina: From Co-Option to Polarization; Jorge Liotti 6. Pluralism, Digitalization and the Contemporary Challenges of Media Policy in El Salvador; José Luis Benítez 7. Media and Politicians in Guatemala: A Marriage That Will Last Until Money Do Them Part; Silvio René Gramajo 8. The State in Pursuit of Hegemony over the Media: The Chávez Model; Andrés Cañizález 9. Clashing Powers in Bolivia: The Tensions Between Evo Morales' Government and the Private Media in Bolivia; Víctor Quintanilla 10. State Intervention and Market Structures: the New Overview of Argentinian Audio-Visual Sector; Guillermo Mastrini, Martín Becerra and Santiago Marino 11. Public Service Broadcasting and Media Reform in Brazil in Comparative Perspective; Carolina Matos 12. Globalization and History in Brazil: Communication, Culture and Development Policies at the Crossroads; César Bolaño 13. The Publishing Industries in Ibero-America: Challenges and Diversity in the Digital World; Stella Puente 14. The Global Notion of Journalism: a Hindrance to the Democratization of the Public Space in Chile; Rodrigo Araya 15. Post-Authoritarian Politics in Neoliberal Days: Revising Media and Journalism Transition in Mexico; Mireya Márquez-Ramírez 16. The 'Capture' of Media Systems, Policies and Industries in Latin America: Concluding Remarks; Manuel Alejandro Guerrero and Mireya Márquez-Ramírez (This file contains the first pages and the introductory chapter only)

This article aims at discussing aspects related to the context of the decline of television, approaching Latin American television studies with other theories about television. In this study, we focus our discussion on Globoplay, Grupo Globo's streaming platform — the largest Brazilian media conglomerate. Our analysis investigates Grupo Globo's project to recover old soap operas as a media and marketing strategy for the streaming platform. Based on a theoretical discussion, the study believes that Brazilian television has found ways to guarantee its existence due to platformisation. On the assumption that the socialising character is a major advantage of television, this study questions whether television would be losing its socialising function to the detriment of new media cultures. In fact, we observe that social television and participatory culture employ elements that aggregate and reconfigure this current phase of television, described as a hypertelevision by some authors, such as Scolari (2009). With this in mind, we may not be witnessing television's decline but its new essence. In addition to mobilizing consumption, the return of old soap operas promotes the socialization of the collective nostalgic feeling generated by these productions on social networks. It is evident that the platform has explored this reciprocal relationship between nostalgia and convergence culture to consolidate itself in the Brazilian streaming scenario. In light of these notes, we believe that affective memory has a considerable impact on the strategies employed by the platform, functioning as a profitable and effective mechanism for the survival of Brazilian television.

A survey of opinion conducted by the Observatory of Public Broadcasting in Latin America indicates that one of the biggest challenges for Brazilian public broadcasting lies in changing the perception that has been crystallized by the public in relation to such stations. Initial analysis of the data obtained so far shows that the respondents have a negative image in relation to public media. At times, the people manifest themselves in favor of the principles that should delimit the performance of radios and TVs, such as diversity, independence, and differentiation from commercial media, but, which are not fully followed. At other times, they criticize the quality of programming and the political-governmental character of these stations. In this critical scenario, the paper presents a discussion on the challenges facing the sector considering the complex historical, cultural, and economic policy circumstances, that have contributed to the maintenance of this “symbolic liability” between media and the audience/citizens, and which reflects on the possible strategies to face the problem.

In Latin America, the now-venerable expression “the end of television” itself looks old, tired, and flawed: markets, cultures, politics, and policies alike find television more alive than ever, albeit in its usual state of technological, institutional, and textual flux. Advertising investment in TV continues to increase, governments still use television to promote generalized propaganda as well as their daily agendas, football on screen remains wildly popular, and fiction programs, most notably telenovelas, dominate prime time and draw large audiences aged between 25 and 60. While younger viewers watch television on a wider variety of screens and technologies, and do so at differing times, the discourse of TV remains an important referent in their audiovisual experiences. In addition, across age groups, divides persist between a minority with routine high-quality access to the digital world of technology and information and a majority without alternatives to the traditional audiovis...