Citizens and media cultures: hidden behind democratic formality

Abstract

The relationship between culture and mass media has received much attention among communication scholars in Latin America, especially during the 1980s and 1990s. This period witnessed a shift from understanding culture and mass communication as domination, to an exploration of the complex and politically nuanced roles played by the mass media within the cultural and political fabrics of the region. As such, the ideological and deterministic moorings of the old debates were considerably softened, as writers such as Martín-Barbero redefined the media in terms of cultural mediations. From this perspective, cultural mediations shape the manner in which subjects articulate their relationship to modernity. This article continues this agenda by exploring the complex relationship between culture, politics and democracy.