International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Argentina is located in the southernmost part of Latin America. It has more than 40 million inhabitants, the main language is Spanish, and the Catholic religion is predominant. Since 1983 it has had a democratic system of government which formally guarantees press freedom in its National Constitution. Article 14 of the Constitution sets the guarantees for freedom of expression . The legal framework limits itself to the regulation of citizens' rights and journalists' responsibilities. Since the return of democracy freedom of expression has been exercised, although it has sometimes faced legal challenges on interpretation (→ Freedom of Communication ). Argentina has a robust media structure. There are many newspapers around the country, six of which have national coverage. Radio and television have a national outreach through a system that privileges licenses to the private commercial sector. State-run radio stations and TV channels also have a nationwide presence, yet with very small audiences. Even though the end of the 1990s saw the appearance of national broadcasting systems, commercial exploitation of radio broadcasting has a local character. In 2005 nonprofit community radio broadcasting was authorized. In this region of Latin America informal ties exist between the state and the media owners ( Sinclair 1999 ). The predominance of a commercial model , based on private ownership, ... log in or subscribe to read full text