1. Introduction

Media power is political power. This becomes especially evident when mass media are concentrated in a few hands and closely linked to specific political sectors, as they often are in Latin America. In such a market structure, mass media can influence political careers, shape or circumvent legal rules, and impact public agendas by selecting what to discuss and from what perspective. Although this power may be used explicitly to advocate a specific political program, it is probably more influential through the silencing of others. At issue is not that media include only specific forms of entertainment, cover news from a certain perspective or comment on political events in a normative way. Any media outlet does these things, be it large and commercial or small and “alternative.” The latter are probably even “worse” with respect to “neutrality.” But in societies where mass media are concentrated in the hands of a few actors who share the same background in terms of gender, class, race, region, or political ideology, these factors do become a challenge to the quality of democracy. Most often, the structures of media markets reflect general social structures of inequality, which translate to discrimination in the social, political, and economic spheres as well. So while every citizen may be free to say what he or she wants, the chances to get heard are highly unequally distributed. This book is about the struggles of civil society coalitions in Latin America to change this by fighting for democratizing media reforms in the broadcasting sector.