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This collection reflects on the international political economy of media and the valuable lessons to be learned from the media reforms currently taking place across South America. The contributors present a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives on the ongoing battle for media space in South America, and the volume includes a foreword by Ernesto Laclau.

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Foreword by Ernesto Laclau Introduction; Cheryl Martens and Ernesto Vivares PART I: MEDIA, POWER AND DEMOCRACY IN THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. The Struggle for Democratic Media: Lessons from the North and from the Left; Robert W. McChesney 2. Media Democracy and Reform in South America: Lessons for Europe; David McQueen PART II: THE POLITICS AND CULTURAL PRACTICES OF MEDIA AND POWER IN SOUTH AMERICA 3. The Dispute Over Public Opinion: The mediatization of politics and the politicization of the media in Ecuador; Mauro Cerbino, Isabel Ramos, Diana Coryat, Marcia Maluf 4. Argentina´s Audiovisual Communication Services Law No. 26.522: Cultural practices, power and communication; Susana Sel and Pablo Gasloli 5. Media and Empowerment in Venezuela: Toward a participatory public-mediatic space; Ximena Gonzalez Broquen 6. The Internet for the Public Interest: Overcoming the digital divide in Brazil; Carolina Mato 7. Media as Political Opposition: The neverending battle; Roberto Follari PART III: REGIONALISM AND THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNICATION 8. Media and Multilateralism in South America: How the International Matters to Domestic Media Reform; Katherine M. A. Reilly 9. Community Media and Policy hacking: Connecting South American policy debates to international media reform movements; Arne Hintz 10. Conclusions: Toward a critical IPE of Media, Power and Regionalism; Cheryl Martens and Ernesto Vivares

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Cheryl Martens is Head of Research at the Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador and Senior Lecturer in the Media School at Bournemouth University, UK. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Manchester, UK, and has lectured at universities in Argentina, Ecuador, Slovakia, Japan and the United Kingdom. Her research and publications concentrate on the sociology and political economy of communication and media policy. She is co-editor of Strategies for Media Reform: International Perspectives (forthcoming 2015).
Ernesto Vivares is Research Professor in the International Relations and Communications Department at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Ecuador. His work focuses on the political economy of South American regionalism and development. His recent publications include Financing Regional Growth and the Inter-American Development Bank (2013) and Exploring the New South American Regionalism (2014).
Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department ofCommunication at the University of Illinois, USA. He is the co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. McChesney has written or edited 27 books, which have been translated into 31 languages, and he is the editor, with John Nerone, of The History of Communication series.

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