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The history of Latin American journalism is ultimately the story of a people who have been silenced over the centuries, primarily Native Americans, women, peasants, and the urban poor. This book seeks to correct the record propounded by most English-language surveys of Latin American journalism, which tend to neglect pre-Columbian forms of reporting, the ways in which technology has been used as a tool of colonization, and the Latin American conceptual foundations of a free press.Challenging the conventional notion of a free marketplace of ideas in a region plagued with serious problems of poverty, violence, propaganda, political intolerance, poor ethics, journalism education deficiencies, and media concentration in the hands of an elite, Ferreira debunks the myth of a free press in Latin America. The diffusion of colonial presses in the New World resulted in the imposition of a structural censorship with elements that remain to this day. They include ethnic and gender discrimination, technological elitism, state and religious authoritarianism, and ideological controls. Impoverished, afraid of crime and violence, and without access to an effective democracy, ordinary Latin Americans still live silenced by ruling actors that include a dominant and concentrated media. Thus, not only is the press not free in Latin America, but it is also itself an instrument of oppression.
E-Book Content
Centuries of Silence: The Story of Latin American Journalism
Leonardo Ferreira
PRAEGER
CENTURIES OF SILENCE The Story of Latin American Journalism
Leonardo Ferreira
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ferreira, Leonardo, 1957– Centuries of silence : the story of Latin American journalism / Leonardo Ferreira. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–275–98397–8 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0–275–98410–9 (pbk : alk. paper) 1. Press—Latin America—History. 2. Journalism—Political aspects—Latin America—History. I. Title. PN4930.F47 2006 079.8–dc22 2006015112 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available c 2006 by Leonardo Ferreira Copyright All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006015112 ISBN: 0–275–98397–8 (cloth) 0–275–98410–9 (pbk) First published in 2006 Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my eternal stars, mi Gaby, Taty, Luisita, Sarita, and Juanita. To my inspiring and beloved mom, the courageous Mary, and to my precious Angie. All determined women, like most others, born to fight for freedom and a sense of harmony in this troubled planet.
Contents
Preface Introduction: When Good News Is Bad News 1. Whose Truth on True Street
ix 1 9
2. A Taste of Freedom
65
3. Taken by War and Censorship
97
4. Modernization and the Press
119
5. How Not to Start a Century
139
6. Hot and Cold Wars, Warm Presses
157
7. Dreaming a Fair World
215
8. One Step Forward, Dozen Backward
233
Notes
259
Bibliography
295
Index
323
Preface
Once a boy in a bilingual Presbyterian school in Bogot´a (to avert the burdens of Catholic education), the author of this book grew up in a virtual e´cole des Refus´es, the alleged Colegio Americano, founded in 1869. I had to live in the Great Lakes to understand that “Americano” did not