Newsrooms in conflict: journalism and the democratization of Mexico

Abstract

Hughes, Sallie. Newsrooms in Conflict: Journalism and the Democratization of Mexico. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006. 286 pp. $24.95. Do you know who Carlos Slim is? Most people do not. A Mexico City-based telecommunications tycoon, he has been recognized recently as the world's richest man. Besides that, Sallie Hughes, an assistant professor at the University of Miami, suggests that this multi-billionaire has the potential to reverse the growing democratization of Mexican journalism. But this dire possibility is not the focus of her meticulously researched book, Newsrooms in Conflict: Journalism and the Democratization of Mexico, which chronicles how Mexico's traditionally authoritarian media system became democratized. From 1980 until the 2006 presidential election, the country's newsrooms evolved into what Hughes calls a hybrid system consisting of three models of journalism. She calls the model that she is most interested in civic-oriented journalism. It should not be confused with what is referred to as civic journalism in the United States. Some civic-oriented newspapers, such as Siglo 21 (Century 21), are new, but others, such as Mexico City's oldest newspaper, El Universal, have been on the scene for a long time. Hughes says Mexico's civic newsrooms were assertive, covered a diversity of political opinions, and were autonomous from the government by the mid-1990s. They took on the functions of watchdog and advocate for their readers and gave voice to opponents of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI), the political party that controlled Mexico for more than seventy years. Civic-oriented newspapers ultimately became part of the reason PRI finally crumbled and lost control. The press system's other new model, represented by the networks and many major newspapers, is what Hughes calls the market-driven model. It also played a part in PRI's downfall, not for ultraistic reasons but because of its profit-driven attempts to respond to what the market demanded. The final model that she identified is the inertial and adaptive authoritarian model, which is either imposed from above or by journalists who support the regime. It lacks newsroom autonomy and has a passive approach to newsgathering. Hughes has an intimate knowledge of Mexican media, having worked as a journalist there for twelve years, but she brings more to her research than observation, networking, and familiarity. Her impressive, well-researched analysis of Mexico's press system includes an interesting combination of sociology, ethnography, content analysis, interviews with editors, and surveys of journalists. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the following topics: journalism in Mexico and other Latin America countries; the connection between politics and the media; the role of the press as a watchdog and/or advocate; and the fragile situation of media in countries that experience swings between democracy and authoritarianism. …

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