RESEARCH SEMINAR, Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster

 

Title: ‘Media and democratization in Brazil and in Latin America’

 

Speaker: Carolina Matos, Department of Government, University of Essex

 

Date: 10 October

Time: 2:00-4:00 pm

Room: A6.9, Harrow Campus, University of Westminster, Northwick Park tube (Metropolitan Line)

 

All welcome, but please contact Dr Anastasia Kavada at [log in to unmask] if you wish to attend

 

Abstract: Latin American countries are having to come to terms with their authoritarian past as well as having to tackle social inequality. Various nations want to fortify existing public spaces of debate and are currently looking at the public media as a tool in democratization. This paper focuses on the major achievements in the field of media democratization in Brazil, underlining the current challenges that public communication systems face in the light of the persistence of misuse of these structures by politicians for their own political interests. I will explore the key aspects developed in my book, Media and politics in Latin America: globalization, democracy and identity (I.B. Tauris, 2012), which has aimed to provide a substantial debate on the key role that public service broadcasting (PSB) played in the formation of European democracies and the challenges that it is encountering in an expanding digital environment in comparative perspective with the strengthening of the public media in Brazil and Latin America.

The media conglomerates which control the television and radio platforms in these countries, such as the Globo organization in Brazil and the Mercurial S.P.A. media corporation in Chile, have great political influence across the region.I examine however the role that public media has played in the processes of national development, democratisation and international dialogue across South and Central America, arguing that it can be a powerful tool for political and social inclusion. I discuss here also some key research findings, including the empirical work and the survey conducted with students on media consumption habits.

 

Biography: Dr. Carolina Matos is a part-time lecturer at the Government Department, University of Essex. A former Fellow in Political Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Matos obtained her PhD in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College in January 2007. Matos has taught and researched in the UK in international journalism, cultural studies, political communications, media and development and Brazilian media and politics at the University of East London (UEL), St. Mary’s College at Twickenham, Goldsmiths and the LSE. With 20 professional experience both as a journalist and academic, Matos has many articles in journals and has also worked as a full-time journalist in Brazil for mainstream newspapers and international agencies in the areas of politics, international affairs and culture including Reuters, Unesco, Folha de Sao Paulo, Tribuna da Imprensa and Globo.com. Matos is the author of Journalism and political democracy in Brazil (Lexington Books, 2008, 2009) and Media and politics in Latin America: globalization, democracy and identity (I.B. Tauris, 2012).