Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T02:17:41.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Propaganda and Crony Capitalism: Partisan Bias in Mexican Television News

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Sallie Hughes  and
Chappell Lawson
Sallie Hughes
Affiliation:
University of Miami
Chappell Lawson
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The relationship between media ownership and partisan bias has been an important source of controversy in emerging democracies. Systematic tests of the effects of ownership, however, remain relatively rare. Using data from content analysis of ninety-three television news programs, as well as more detailed examination of six provincial television stations, we assess the extent of bias exhibited by different types of broadcasters during Mexico's 2000 presidential campaign. We find that privately owned television stations were generally more balanced than public broadcasters, who typically followed propagandistic models of coverage. At the same time, private ownership often entailed collusive arrangements between broadcasters and politicians, based on the prospect of future business concessions (i.e., “crony capitalism”). We conclude that changes in ownership patterns are unlikely to eradicate partisan bias, and we discuss other institutional remedies aimed at insulating both private and state-run media from political manipulation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , 2004 , pp. 81 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

1.

We thank W. Lance Bennett, Jorge I. Domínguez, Federico Estévez, Daniel C. Hallin, Steve Levitsky, Jordan Siegel, Strom Thacker, Peter Ward, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. The Wigg Research Fund of Pomona College generously provided funding for field work summarized in this paper.

References

Academia Mexicana de Derechos Humanos (AMDH) 1997 Observación de gastos de campaña para Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal. Mexico City: Academia Mexicana de Derechos Humanos, Universidad Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Acosta Valverde, Miguel, and Rosales, Luz Paula Parra 1994 Los procesos electorales en medios de comunicación. Mexico City: Academia Mexicana de Derechos Humanos, Universidad Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Adler, Ilya 1993 “The Mexican Case: The Media in the 1988 Presidential Election.” In Television, Politics, and the Transition to Democracy in Latin America, edited by Skidmore, Thomas E., 145–73. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Altschull, J. Herbert 1984 Agents of Power. The Role of the News Media in Human Affairs. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Alves, Rosental Calmon 2003 “The Evolution of Brazilian Journalism toward Professionalism and Corporatization.” http://www.utexas.edu/coc/journalism/lajou/evolution.html (accessed May 31, 2003).Google Scholar
Amaral, Roberto, and Guimarães, Cesar 1994 “Media Monopoly in Brazil.” Journal of Communication 44 (4): 26–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arredondo Ramírez, Pablo, Peralta, Gilberto Fregoso, and Delarbre, Raúl Trejo 1991 Así se calló el sistema: Comunicación y elecciones en 1988. Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara.Google Scholar
Bagdikian, Ben H. 2000 The Media Monopoly. 6th ed. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Bajomi-Lázár, Péter, and Hegedus, István, eds, 2001 Media and Politics: Conference Papers on the Interplay of Media and Politics. Budapest: New Mandate.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. Lance 1998 “The Media and Democratic Development: The Social Basis of Political Communication.” In Communicating Democracy: The Media in Political Transitions, edited by O'Neil, Patrick H. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. Lance 2003 News: The Politics of Illusion. 5th ed. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Bernal Sahagún, Víctor Manuel, and Jacques, Eduardo Torreblanca 1988 Espacios de silencio. Mexico City: Nuestro Tiempo.Google Scholar
Calero Aparicio, Fernando 2002 “The Colombian Media: Modes and Perspective in Television.” In Latin Politics, Global Media, edited by Elizabeth, Fox and Waisbord, Silvio, 89–106. Austin: University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caristi, Dom 1996 “Privatization and Broadcasting in East and Central Europe.” journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 40:281–85 (Spring).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curran, James 1991 “Rethinking the Media as a Public Sphere.” In Communication and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere in the New Media Age, edited by Dahlgren, Peter and Sparks, Colin, 27–58. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
De la Selva, Alva 1998 “La televisión en 1997: Expansión y lucha de poder.” Revista Mexicana de Comunicación 52 (January–February). Available at http://www.cem.itesum.mx/dacs/buendia/.Google Scholar
Delgado, Álvaro 1996 “Nuevos episodios de la guerra por el ‘rating’: El ‘descontón’ de Rocha y la paz unilateral de Azcárraga.” Proceso, November 3.Google Scholar
Entman, Robert 1989 Democracy without Citizens. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Epstein, Edward J. 1973 News from Nowhere: Television and the News. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Faraone, Roque 2002 “Television and the New Uruguayan State.” In Latin Politics, Global Media, edited by Elizabeth, Fox and Waisbord, Silvio, 164–75. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Federal Superior Electoral Tribunal 2000 Juicio de revisión constitucional electoral. Mexico City: Federal Superior Electoral Tribunal.Google Scholar
Fernández Christlieb, Fátima 1996 Los medios de difusión masiva en México. Mexico City: Juan Pablos.Google Scholar
Fernández, Claudia, and Paxman, Andrew 2000 El Tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. Mexico City: Editorial Grijalbo.Google Scholar
Fox, Elizabeth, ed. 1988 Media and Politics in Latin America: The Struggle for Democracy. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Fox, Elizabeth 1997 Latin American Broadcasting: From Tango to Telenovela. London: University of Luton Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Elizabeth 1998 “Latin American Broadcasting and the State: Friend and Foe.” In Communicating Democracy: The Media in Political Transitions, edited by O'Neil, Patrick H., 21–40. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Fox, Elizabeth, and Waisbord, Silvio, eds. 2002 Latin Politics, Global Media. Austin: University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galarza, Gerardo 1996 “Salinas Pliego: Presentaré una demanda contra Ricardo Rocha por sus calumnias e infamias.” Proceso, November 3.Google Scholar
Grayson, George W. 2000 A Guide to the 2000 Mexican Presidential Election. An Election Studies Report of the CSIS Americas Program, Mexico Project. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, June.Google Scholar
Gross, Peter 1996 Mass Media in Revolution and National Development: The Romanian Laboratory. Ames, IA: University of Iowa Press.Google Scholar
Guerrero Martínez, Manuel Alejandro 2002 “The Political Openness of the Broadcast Media in Mexico: The Predominance of Economic and Entrepreneurial Interests.” PhD diss., Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Florence, Italy.Google Scholar
Gunther, Richard, and Mughan, Anthony 2000 Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallin, Daniel C. 2000a “La Nota Roja: Popular Journalism and the Transition to Democracy in Mexico.” In Tabloid Tales. Global Debates over Media Standards, edited by Sparks, Colin and Tulloch, John, 267–82. Lanahan, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Hallin, Daniel C. 2000b “Media, Political Power and Democracy in Mexico.” In De-Westernizing Media Studies, edited by Curran, James and Park, Myung-Jin, 97–110. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hallin, Daniel C., and Papathanassopoulos, Stylianos 2002 “Political Clientelism and the Media: Southern Europe and Latin America in Comparative Perspective.” Media, Culture & Society 24 (2): 175–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazen-Hammond, Susan 1994 “Don Amoldo, nacido para servir.” Reader's Digest Selecciones, 54–56.Google Scholar
Herman, Edward S., and Chomsky, Noam 1988 Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Hughes, Sallie 2003 “From the Inside Out. How Institutional Entrepreneurs Transformed Mexican Journalism.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 8:87–117 (Summer).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iosifides, Petros 1999 “Diversity versus Concentration in the Deregulated Mass Media Domain.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 76:152–63 (Spring).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, Karol 1995 “Media Within and Without the States: Press Freedom in Eastern Europe.” Journal of Communication 45:125–39 (Autumn).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, Karol 1998 “Normative Models of Media and Journalism and Broadcasting Regulation in Central and Eastern Europe.” International Journal of Communications Law and Policy 2:1–32 (Winter).Google Scholar
Jones, Adam 2002 The Press in Transition: A Comparative Study of Nicaragua, South Africa, Jordan, and Russia. Hamburg, Germany: Schriften des Deutschen Übersee-Instituts.Google Scholar
Katz, Elihu, and Wedell, George with Pilsworth, Michael and Shinar, Dov 1977 Broadcasting in the Third World: Promise and Performance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lánczi, András, and O'Neil, Patrick 1997 “Pluralization and the Politics of Media Change in Hungary.” In Post-Communism and the Media in Eastern Europe, edited by O'Neil, Patrick, 82–101. London: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Lawson, Chappell 2002 Building the Fourth Estate: Democratization and the Rise of a Free Press in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, Daniel C., and Bruhn, Kathleen with Zebedua, Emilio 2001 Mexico: The Struggle for Democratic Development. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lichtenberg, Judith, ed. 1990 Democracy and the Mass Media. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manaev, Oleg 1996 “Media Autonomy, Diversity vs. Unity and the State in Transition: The Belarus Experience.” Communication 22 (1): 27–41.Google Scholar
McChesney, Robert 2000 Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times. New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
McNair, Brian 2000 “Power, Profit, Corruption, and Lies: The Russian Media in the 1990s.” In De-Westernizing Media Studies, edited by Curran, James and Park, Myung-Jin, 79–94. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
McQuail, Dennis 1992 Media Performance: Mass Communication and the Public Interest. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Medios Publicitarios Mexicanos 2001 Directorio de medios audio-visuales. Mexico City: Medios Publicitarios Mexicanos, SA de CV, December.Google Scholar
Mejía Barquera, Fernando 1989 La industria de la radio y la televisión y la política del estado mexicano. Mexico City: Fundación Manuel Buendía.Google Scholar
Mickiewicz, Ellen 1999 Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Milton, Andrew 2001 “Bound But Not Gagged: Media Reform in Democratic Transitions.” Comparative Political Studies 34:493–526 (June).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molina, Gabriel 1987 “Mexican Television News: The Imperatives of Corporate Rationale” Media, Culture and Society 9 (2): 159–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mondak, Jeffery J. 2003 “Media and Tolerance in Romania: Empirical Evidence of Mixed Effects.” In Business as Usual: Continuity and Change in Central and Eastern European Media, edited by Paletz, David L. and Jakubowicz, Karol, 353–84. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Olmos, Alejandro 1999 “Algunos protagonistas de la televisión.” In Apuntes para una historia de la televisión mexicana II, edited by Miguel Angel Sánchez de Armas and María del Pilar Ramírez Sevilla. Mexico City: Revista Mexicana de ComunicaciónGoogle Scholar
O'Neil, Patrick H., ed. 1998 Communicating Democracy: The Media in Political Transitions. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Organization of American States (OAS) 2002 “The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.” Preliminary Evaluation of Freedom of Expression in Guatemala. Guatemala City, Guatemala: Organization of American States. Press Release, PREN/24/00.Google Scholar
Proceso 1997 Mexico City. April 20 (various articles)Google Scholar
Puig, Carlos 1997 “Azcárraga Jean: ‘Yo soy empresario; no creo que tener buenas o malas relaciones con el Secretario de Gobernación vaya a alterar mi rating’.” Proceso, March 16:31–34.Google Scholar
Ramírez Beltrán, Luis 1988 “Foreword.” In Media and Politics in Latin America: The Struggle for Democracy, edited by Elizabeth, Fox, 1–5. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Rockwell, Rick, and Janus, Noreen 2002 “The Triumph of the Media Elite in Postwar Central America.” In Latin Politics, Global Media, edited by Elizabeth, Fox and Waisbord, Silvio, 107–22. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Rockwell, Rick, and Janus, Noreen 2003 Media Power in Central America. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Salas, Nubia, and Olivos, Manuela 1999 “Relación de actos contra el ejercicio periodístico ocurridos en México de enero a diciembre de 1999.” Mexico City: Fraternidad de Reporteros. http://www.fremac.org.mx/obs/inf99/recue3.html. (Accessed July 15, 2002)Google Scholar
Seres, Lázló 2001 “The Freedom of the Public Media in Hungary: A Libertarian Approach.” In Media and Politics: Conference Papers on the Interplay of Media and Politics, edited by Bajomi-Lázár, Péter and Hegedus, István, 147–57. Budapest: New Mandate.Google Scholar
Skidmore, Thomas E., ed. 1993 Television, Politics, and the Transition to Democracy in Latin America. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.Google Scholar
Splichal, Slavko 1992 “Media Privatization and Democratization in Central-Eastern Europe.” Gazette 49:3–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Splichal, Slavko, and Wasko, Janet 1993 Communication and Democracy. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Trejo Delarbre, Raúl, ed. 1985 Televisa, el quinto poder. Mexico City: Claves Latinoamericanas.Google Scholar
Trejo Delarbre, Raúl, ed. 1988 Las redes de Televisa. Mexico City: Claves Latinoamericanas.Google Scholar
Waisbord, Silvio 2000a Watchdog Journalism in South America: News Accountability, and Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waisbord, Silvio 2000b “Media in South America: Between the Rock of the State and the Hard Place of the Market.” In De-Westernizing Media Studies, edited by Curran, James and Park, Myung-Jin, 50–62. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weissert, Will 2002 “Miami-Based Businessman Controls Big Chunk of Latin American Airwaves, Looks to Extend Reach.” Associated Press. Mexico City News. June 5.Google Scholar
Zacarías, Miguel 2000 “Es Juan Aguilera director de RTG.” León, Guanajuato. Morning ed., January 7.Google Scholar
Zazur Osorio, Antonio E. 1996 El estado y el modelo de televisión adoptado en México, 1950–2000. Mexico City: Metropolitan Autonomous University.Google Scholar