Abstract
Over the past 20 years or so, media policy reforms in Latin America have proceeded apace, with unprecedented involvement in policy activism. In this book, María Soledad Segura and Silvio Waisbord examine the citizens’ movements and the ways in which they have contributed to the reshaping of media systems, helped change policy-making processes across the continent and promoted pluralism in public communications. They base their argument in the book around three key propositions: civil society is crucial in the process of media policy reform; support from powerful elites in strategic positions of power is equally necessary; and despite globalisation and the ascendancy of transitional bodies, the role of the state in decision-making remains very important. Segura and Waisbord offer a surefooted guide to the field of media activism in the region, the strategies pursued, activist impact on new legislation, the significance of political junctures and opportunities vis-à-vis state politics and the relationship of local media activism to transnational collective action. A final chapter looks at the participation of civic society in policy implementation. This timely outline and assessment of the objectives, tactics and influence of civic media movements in the region will be widely read, and not only by Latin American specialists.