The Press and Classical Populism in Argentina and Brazil

• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18767396
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• Author: Ariel Alejandro Goldstein
• Date: 01 May 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 220, Vol. 45 No. 3, May 2018, 109–123

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18767396

© 2018 Latin American Perspectives

109

The Press and Classical Populism in Argentina and Brazil

by

Ariel Alejandro Goldstein

Translated by

Mariana Ortega Breña

Comparison of the policies vis-à-vis the press of the classical populist governments of

Argentina and Brazil reveals that the populist elites came into conflict with traditional

media elites over exclusionary views that modified the contours of the public sphere.

Newspapers committed to liberal principles engaged in intransigent struggle with popu-

lism, and this struggle created opportunities for new entrepreneurs to form political alli-

ances with these governments to expand their businesses. The relationship between these

“mediatized populisms” and the new media entrepreneurs contributed to the patrimonial-

ism that came to characterize the link between the media and Latin American states in

subsequent years.

Una comparación de las políticas relativas a la prensa por parte de los gobiernos popu-

listas clásicos de Argentina y Brasil muestra que las élites populistas entraron en conflicto

con las élites de los medios tradicionales. Dichas desavenencias fueron causadas por pun-

tos de vista excluyentes que alteraban el contorno de la esfera pública. Los periódicos

comprometidos con los principios liberales sostuvieron una lucha intransigente con el

populismo, lucha que dio la oportunidad a nuevos empresarios de formar alianzas políticas

con dichos gobiernos y expandir así sus negocios. La relación entre estos “populismos

mediáticos” y los empresarios de los nuevos medios contribuyó al patrimonialismo que

asumiría el vínculo entre dichos medios y los Estados latinoamericanos en años sub-

siguientes.

Keywords: Populism, Press, Vargas, Perón, Media

Given the current strained relations between the so-called national-popular

Latin American governments and the press, it is of interest to reexamine the

media policies of the classical populist regimes (Peronism [1946–1955] and

Vargism [1930–1945 and 1951–1954]). The clash between the traditional media

elites and the new populist ones contributed to political polarization, involving

contestation over the contours of the public sphere as social subjects previously

excluded, disdained, or ignored by the liberal elites burst into it. The central

Ariel Alejandro Goldstein is an assistant professor of Latin American politics at the Universidad

de Buenos Aires and an assistant researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas

y Técnicas. He thanks Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli and Javier Campo, whose comments were

fundamental for the improvement of this piece, and Silvio Waisbord, Philip Kitzberger, Mirta

Varela, Cintia Rodrigo, Dolores Rocca Rivarola, and Joaquín Linné for reading and commenting

on parts of this article and significantly enriching it with their suggestions. Mariana Ortega Breña

is a freelance translator based in Canberra, Australia.

767396LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X18767396Latin American PerspectivesGoldstein / THE PRESS AND CLASSICAL POPULISM

research-article2018