Operation Condor’s lasting impact on Latin America’s media
Operation Condor’s lasting impact on Latin America’s media
Published on Thursday 12 September 2013.
Op-ed published on 11 September on Bío Bío Nacional’s website
Forty years after the Chilean military coup of 11 September 1973, Latin America’s conscience is still haunted by memories of the dust clouds from the attack on La Moneda, the presidential palace. Salvador Allende’s death and the rubble left by the bombardment endure as symbols of democracies crushed by the claws of Operation Condor, just as certain open wounds still endure. In the absence of justice, the time has come for repentance, albeit belatedly. But not, with few exceptions, in the ranks of the media.
The Brazilian media giant Globo took the plunge on 31 August by publicly acknowledging in its daily newspaper that its support for President João Goulart’s removal in a military coup on 31 March 1964 was a “mistake.” “It was the Cold War and we thought we were saving democracy,” the newspaper said. But Argentina’s Clarín and Chile’s El Mercurio have yet to offer a mea culpa, although they also backed their countries’ armed forces when they seized power by force. The golden rule for them is business as usual, it seems.
Globo’s act of contrition has not diminished its share of the Brazilian market. In Chile, El Mercurio and the Copesa media group continue to be the sole beneficiaries of the government’s support for the media, worth 5 million dollars a year. And Clarín continues to dominate Argentina’s airwaves, refusing to surrender any of its frequencies as required by the new Broadcasting Services Law – also known as the SCA or Media Law – whose full application is still on hold pending a supreme court decision.
The media regulation introduced by the various currents of the South American left in the 2000s (in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Uruguay) is understandable in the light of the heritage of the Operation Condor years. Censorship and terror have ended but it cannot be said that media pluralism prevails, not real pluralism. The concentration of media ownership that was consolidated under the dictatorships has continued unchallenged since the return to democracy.
More:
http://en.rsf.org/americas-operation-condor-s-lasting-impact-12-09-2013,45164.html
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