Between the harassment and the bribery? Media and democratic crises in Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador

Abstract

The tension between the media and governments is a constant that develops independently of the political regime; tensions exist in democratic and authoritarian contexts. Those tensions are caused, first and foremost, by the vigilance/monitoring exercised by the media on the public service and on the elected authorities. In this sense, the media take two role plays: a) as "auditors" in contexts where there is not horizontal accountability; or b) as opposition in highly politicized periods, which tend to increase with the collapse of the party system. However, to affirm this tension exists independently of the political regime does not mean to accept that it develops in the same way in all democratic, authoritarian, or dictatorial regimes. That is why this research takes the following study cases in a comparative perspective: the government of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Rafael Correa in Ecuador, in order to display how the process of solving tensions has adapted to a new political contexts, going from direct interventions (such as the nationalization of the media) to indirect interventions (such as purchasing editorial lines, operating license suspension, etc.).