The Bugle and the Penguins: Democracy and the Media in Argentina Robbie Macrory INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE AMERICAS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON The Bugle and the Penguins Democracy and the Media in Argentina Robbie Macrory MSc in Latin American Politics Supervisor: Professor Kevin Middlebrook September 2010 © Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London Institute for the Study of the Americas 31 Tavistock Square London WC1H 9HA Telephone: 020 7862 8870 Fax: 020 7862 8886 Email:
[email protected]/americas Web: www.sas.ac.uk/americas Acknowledgments I would like to thank Kevin Middlebrook and Par Engstrom at ISA for their support and useful advice; Ariel Duboscq and Jorge Brugnoli at la Universidad de Buenos Aires for going out of their way in helping me with my research; Klaus Gallo at la Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; and last but not least, Nicole and my parents. The Bugle and the Penguins: Democracy and the Media in Argentina CONTENTS Acknowledgments 3 Introduction 5 Chapter 1: The media and democracy 8 Freedom of expression and freedom of the press 8 Concentration of ownership and the threat to pluralism 9 Governments and the media: an unhealthy relationship? 11 Media reform in Venezuela: regulation or censorship? 13 Chapter 2: The media and the state in Argentina 16 PART ONE: Historical antecedents 16 From Peron to ‘El Proceso’ 16 The administrations of Alfonsín and Menem 18 PART TWO: Recent developments 20 Media regulation under Néstor Kirchner 20 El crisis de campo 21 Unresolved tensions: Grupo Clarín and the dictatorship