Media capture and resistance in Argentina

SEGURA MARIA SOLEDAD; LINARES ALEJANDRO; ANA BIZBERGE

Media Capture in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America: Power & Resistance

Palgrave Macmillan

Año: 2024;

This chapter will address the differences and similarities of the elite captures, the alternative experiences and the social participation in broadcasting and internet policy-making processes in the XXIst Century in Argentina, and its effects in content and structural diversity.The theoretical approach considers communication as a human right, as it is defined by international standards (IACHR, 2010 & 1985). Structural diversity refers to the equitable participation of the three kinds of players in media and internet systems (commercial, state and non-profit sectors) (IACHR, 2009); and content diversity considers different sources, content and consumption (Napoli, 1999). The communication policy-making process is characterized as a struggle among actors with unequal power and different interests (Freedman, 2006). The elite capture is defined as ?the ability of some actors to intervene in a public policy and put their interests ahead of those of the population? (Oxfam, 2018: 17). Among the resistances to elite captures made by civil society organizations, both alternative experiences in front of states and market, and social participation in policy-making processes are included (Segura, 2018).The problem is the following: Which are the differences and similarities of the capture and resistance processes in Argentina; how are they explained; and which are their effects in content and structural diversity of media and internet platforms?This question will be answered based on the comparison among the results of previous works (Segura & Linares, 2021, forthcoming; Bizberge, 2020; Segura, Linares & others, 2021, forthcoming; Segura, 2018; Segura & Waisbod, 2016); of third party empirical research; and self production of new empirical research based on document analysis and interviews with key actors. The methodological approach follows Oxfam (2018) taxonomy of elite-capture mechanisms and the analytical dimensions of citizen participation defined by UNESCO (1977) and Linares (2018).The hypothesis is as follows: The elite capture in Internet policy-making processes in Argentina, as in most Latin American countries, succeed until nowadays to not have national regulations; while there have been broadcasting acts reforms in this country in the last decades. Popular, alternative and community media are historical and autonomous resistance practices in Latin America; but there is experience developed to be an alternative to social networks. Nevertheless, as well as media movements in the 2000s and the 2010s, there are digital activism organizations that look for impact on internet regulation about news media and audiovisual services. An important result of elite captured policies is a highly concentrated media system and internet ecosystem; and there is also a relevant correlation between this structural diversity and limited content diversity. These differences between internet and broadcasting captures and resistances are explained by the global scale, economic power and open architecture of Internet intermediaries as well as the novelty of the regulatory problem.ISBN PROVISORIO, NO ES EL REAL.