Between Public and Private Media: Toward a Definition of “Community Media”

• Published date: 01 May 2018
• Author: Mauro Cerbino,Francesca Belotti
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18766901
• Date: 01 May 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 220, Vol. 45 No. 3, May 2018, 30–43

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18766901

© 2018 Latin American Perspectives

30

Between Public and Private Media

Toward a Definition of “Community Media”

by

Mauro Cerbino and Francesca Belotti

Translated by

Mariana Ortega Breña

Constitutional reforms in Ecuador and Bolivia and the subsequent laws on communi-

cations have opened up the media space to new social and political actors: public and

community media. While the former tend to be associated with the state in form and with

governments in substance, the latter are not clearly defined and occupy a place in the

midst of the hegemonic struggle between the public and private sectors to enable citizens

to actively intervene in the competition for shaping public opinion. It is therefore neces-

sary to lay the groundwork for a definition of “community media” that includes both its

legal and sociopolitical dimensions. Indeed, operationalizing such a definition might allow

community media to recognize themselves in it and to take the measures required to fully

project themselves as subjects of the law.

Las reformas constitucionales de Ecuador y Bolivia, y las siguientes leyes de comuni-

cación, han abierto el espacio mediático a nuevos actores sociales y políticos: los medios

públicos y los comunitarios. Si los primeros tienden a ser referibles al Estado en la forma

y a los gobiernos en la sustancia, los segundos se quedan indefinidos e irrumpen en la

lucha hegemónica entre los sectores público y privado, para que la ciudadanía intervenga

de forma activa en la disputa por la generación de opinión pública. Por lo tanto, es nece-

sario sentar las bases para una definición del concepto de “medio comunitario” que sepa

mantener unidas las dimensiones de significado legales y socio-políticas. Traducir en tér-

minos operativos esta definición podría permitir a los medios comunitarios reconocerse en

los rasgos observables del concepto y, por ende, tomar medidas para proyectarse plena-

mente como sujetos de derecho.

Keywords: Community media, Radio frequencies, Common good, Communication,

Public opinion

The communication laws approved in Bolivia (in 2011) and Ecuador (in

2013), which follow similar legal frameworks adopted in Venezuela and

Mauro Cerbino is a professor, researcher, and former dean of the Facultad Latinoamericana de

Ciencias Sociales Ecuador’s Department of International Studies and Communication; he is cur-

rently a counselor in the Consejo de Evaluación, Acreditación y Aseguramiento de la Calidad de

la Educación Superior. Francesca Belotti is an independent researcher; she earned a Ph.D. in polit-

ical languages and communication at Sapienza Università di Roma and was an academic Mobility

for Inclusive Development in Latin America postdoctoral fellow at the Universidad Nacional de

Misiones and a Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas postdoctoral fellow at

the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Mariana Ortega Breña is a freelance translator based in

Canberra, Australia.

766901LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X18766901Latin American PerspectivesCerbino and Belotti / Toward A Denition Of “Community Media

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