Media Power in Central America

Media Power in Central America is the first book in a generation to explore the media landscape in Central America. It captures the political and cultural interplay between the media and those in power in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua. Highlighting the subtle strangulation of opposition media voices in the region, the authors show how the years since the guerrilla wars have not yielded the free media systems that some had expected. Country by country, the authors deal with the specific conditions of government-sponsored media repression, economic censorship, corruption, and consumer trends that shape the political landscape. Challenging the notion of the media as a democratizing force, Media Power in Central America shows how the media are used to block democratic reforms in the region and outlines the difficulties of playing watchdog to rulers who use the media as a tool of power.

Noreene Janus is Communications for Development adviser for Latin American and Caribbean at the Academy for Educational Development.