Ecuador: The Media Politics of the "Citizens' Revolution". Communicative Power Redistribution and Democratization

PHILIP KITZBERGER

The Pink Tide: Media Access and Political Power in Latin America

Rowman & Littlefield

Lugar: Lanham; Año: 2017; p. 87 - 110

Rafael Correas Citizen Revolution undertook a radical transformation in power relations and ownership structures in Ecuadors media realm. The present article will firstly reconstruct different aspects of the Citizens Revolution counterhegemonic media politics. This description will comprise the constitutional, legal and regulatory reforms; the creation and revamping of state and market alternative media outlets; the judicial battles around freedom of expression; and the political communication strategies aimed at denaturalizing the established media order. The article will secondly evaluate the impact of this shift in the distribution of media power in terms of media democratization. To do that, it will attempt to assess how far media access, control and use has been redistributed among different social sectors such as indigenous groups, popular sectors and minorities in Ecuador.