The impact of foreign aid in Latin American popular communication

MARÍA SOLEDAD SEGURA

Congreso; 2017 IAMCR pre-conference ?Reflections on foreign aid, philanthropy and change in media systems?; 2017

The paper will examine the influence and impact of international assistance on popular, community and alternative media in Latin America. In the digital age, community broadcasting is still important in a region with growing levels of internet access and affordability , but with persistent great inequalities in access according to the geographical location and socio-economic situation of the population . Therefore, there still are important groups of illiterate people . Therefore, broadcasting access is free and anonymous while internet is paid and both the transmitter and the receiver can be known. Popular radios and televisions are a relevant part of the media landscape in the region since the 1940s. They are connected to myriad social movements and organizations of workers, peasants and farmers, miners, indigenous peoples, human rights groups, unions, local churches, neighborhood associations, and the urban poor. They are conceived as channels for the public expression of ordinary citizens and the affirmation of social demands. By rejecting the propaganda principles of state-run media as well as the profit-seeking goals of the private media, they have sought to expand communicative spaces by giving access to alternative issues and perspectives generally ignored by the mainstream media. Despite widespread and longstanding presence linked to social movements and local activism, they have survived in clandestine and precarious conditions. In most countries they were considered illegal or have important restrictions until the last years when many broadcasting acts were modified. Because they operated without licenses, they have been frequent targets of judicial persecution as well as police raids and closures. They have chronically operated on shoestring budgets. Because they existed outside legal frameworks, they could not have access to many funds, which perpetuated economic difficulties. One of the most important financers of community, alternative and popular media were ?and, in some few cases, still are- the foreign aid. (Linares y otras, 2016)Despite the relevance of international development assistance for a vibrant part of regional media systems, there are extremely few researches and publications concerning this issue. My theoretical approach recognizes the unequal positions of power and the relations of dominance and dependence, but also assumes that even the more disempowered actors can make the difference in diverse levels of specific historical junctures. Thus, they can negotiate, fight, resist, re-signify, use the external assistance for different purposes and in distinctive ways. At the same time, it considers that not every foreign aid promotes the same ideology neither absolute control the applications that the local organizations make of their money.Community media, in particular, are key to guarantee communication rights in democratic societies in two ways. On the one hand, its presence contributes to the establishment of more pluralistic and diverse media systems. On the other hand, they are scenarios of citizen participation that allow the emergence of subjects, topics and perspectives that usually have no place in private-commercial or state media. For these reasons, they require legal recognition by the State (UN, OAS, OSCE and CADHP, 2007; European Parliament Culture and Education Commission, 2008; OAS, 2010).The questions that we will approach to are:?What has been the role of foreign aid in shaping communication practices of popular communication and community media in Latin America and what are the consequences? Which communication approaches and practices has international cooperation fostered or inhibited in these radios and televisions??Which are the interests of donors and those of beneficiaries? How did they negotiate them??What are the continuities and discontinuities concerning the impact of development assistance on popular communication practice in the post-Cold War era?The hypothesis is that between the 70s and the 90s, the international assistance was crucial to develop the popular communication in the region. Foreign agencies linked to political parties and Christian churches from European countries and UN financed practices ?such as community radios, popular videos, publications, trainings, meetings, etc.- and also institutions that shaped the regional communication field -like ALER and AMARC-ALC-. Since the 1990s, during the closure of the debates about the New World Information and Communication Order and the end of the Cold War, even if most of the cooperation agencies redirect their funds to other parts of the world and other subjects, most of these institutions and media continued functioning in the region and expand their objectives.