The Media Politics of Latin America’s Post Left Turn: Legal (Counter-)Reforms in Argentina and Ecuador

Abstract

Latin America’s ‘left turn’ has been characterized by ambitious reforms to reshuffle power relations in the region’s historically elitist and commercially-driven media systems. Those radical media policies faced course reversals where right-shifting governments followed. This article explores the legacies of ‘left turn’ media policies by focusing on the counter-reforms to the media regulatory laws in Argentina and Ecuador. Through a process-tracing strategy the article shows that the counter-reforms implied an incomplete restoration of historical media policy patterns. While de-regulations reflected reinstated privileged state access of established interests, operating policy-feedback mechanisms preserved some regulations conferring rights and resources to incorporated stakeholders.