Final Assessment (Nicaragua and Latin America)

Latin America itself is multi-faceted in its politics, geography and culture. However, countries like Argentina, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela share similar hurdles when dealing with media ownership, technology and the censorship that often tags along. Globalization also expands the playing field, by adding more media technologies, and making available more business formats to countries that would not have been able to acquire their own. Globalization can mold an unpromising media sector into a media sensation.

A successful Latin American country has, or has had, a decent relationship with the United States. Cuba’s history of dictatorships/regimes and relationships with enemies of the United States has led to their current position of economic and political hardship. Their media consists of only government-owned stations. And, their country is surrounded by a U.S. led embargo, slicing Cuba’s potential in the global market place completely. President Chavez of Venezuela and the U.S. rarely get along, especially on narcotic trafficking policies. However, the U.S. remains one of Venezuela’s biggest trading partners. So, even though the political stability between the two is iffy at best, the economic ties are aiding Venezuela’s growth.

Nicaragua, on the other hand, partly backed the U.S., and partly did not, which resulted in civil wars. The U.S. supported a rebel group, the Contras, under President Reagan to promote democracy/western values by battling the Sandinistas (FSLN) for control of the country. According to the article, U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua by Edmundo Garcia, the U.S. had other motives besides stopping the spread of communism, such as its geo-political, imperial and economic interests in the Caribbean Basin. And, it declares that the United States was ultimately flawed in its tactics, and thereby lost grasp of its own ‘fundamental principle’ –the right of the people to self-determination. The result from the previous division can be seen in modern day Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, dampened with corruption and inability to truly develop in any one direction.

The U.S. had a better relationship with Argentina, investing in their financial, manufacturing and information sectors and agreeing on several strategic interests like counterterrorism, narcotics and pro-stability/peace initiatives. Today, Argentina remains one of the top Latin American countries on a political and economic scale. There are also many fortune 500 companies located there.

Furthermore, because of globalization, many foreign media outlets have an influence or a market in other countries, especially in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Argentina. Cuba’s media remains government-controlled for the most part, besides some broadcasting of Telenovelas within the country. Telenovelas, as a whole, has a strong cultural impact upon Latin America with its soap operas. Television and movies like those from Hollywood also have an influence on its viewers, influencing how they perceive the world around them, and allowing for possible induction from another culture.

Nicaragua is influenced by an array of media powerhouses. Univision broadcasts its news network, allowing Nicaraguan viewers to see and learn about Hispanic populations in the U.S. According to the article, “Viewing America: A Qualitative Analysis Citizens Perceive U.S. Lifestyles and How U.S. Television Programming Influences Those Perceptions” By Jorge Aguilar, in Nicaragua, 60 percent of the programming on national networks is from Mexico and 15 percent is from the United States. American networks, like TNT, TBS, E! Entertainment, HBO and even Sony, are dubbed or given subtitles and shown in Nicaragua. Even though it is available, it requires cable and only 4 percent has it due to its high costs. As well, it can be argued that the United States undermines local cultures and culturally homogenizes the foreign market through the spreading of their media (Aguilar).

Censorship has also had its mark upon Latin American countries. The Nicaraguan constitution provides that "Nicaraguans have the right freely to express their ideas in public or in private, individually or collectively, verbally, in writing or by any other means." The Somoza’s regularly censored the opposition newspaper, La Prensa. During the 1970s, censorship was increasingly used to control the press. Sandinistas also used censorship to block stories against them from being published. However, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were very few incidences of outright censorship in Nicaragua.

The more globally connected the world gets, the more watchdogs emerge, and less censorship is able to occur. Latin America, as a whole, is beginning to work together and become a powerful force in the world, as shown from the Ibero-American summit. The Region is beginning to show signs that it may be the next Europe in years to come.

My Personal Contribution to the final presentation:
Put together and made the entire PowerPoint (fonts and format got changed in the class, looks way better on my laptop). Put together Nicaraguan section for class handout. Researched all about Nicaragua and used information to make the PowerPoint slides for my country as well.

Works Cited:

Argentina:
1. Press Reference:
Link: http://www.pressreference.com/A-Be/Argentina.html
2. CIA Fact book:
Link: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ar.html

Cuba:
1. Press Reference:
Link: http://www.pressreference.com/Co-Fa/Cuba.html#ixzz16k9gAPJZ
2. CIA Fact book:
Link: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/cu.html

Nicaragua:
1. Press Reference:
Link: http://www.pressreference.com/Ma-No/Nicaragua.html
2. CIA Fact book:
Link: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html
3. Aguilar, Jorge A. “Viewing America: A Qualitative Analysis on How Nicaraguan Citizens Perceive U.S. Lifestyle and How U.S, Television Programming Influences Those Perspective”. 2005.
Link: http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0010825/aguilar_j.pdf

Venezuela:
1. Press Reference:
Link: http://www.pressreference.com/Uz-Z/Venezuela.html
2. CIA Fact book:
Link: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ve.html#top

Other Citations:
Paxman, Andrew. “The Global 50”. SPECIAL REPORT: Variety 92nd Anniversary Issue; Pg. 45

"Latino soaps go global. " Television Business International 1 Jan. 2004: ProQuest Central, ProQuest. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.
Link: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=813923411&sid=17&Fmt=3&clientId=9269&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Burnett, Kate, and Pablo Conde. "Media's Feared and Revered - Kate Burnett and Pablo Conde Profile Four of the Biggest and most Powerful Media Owners." Campaign March 21 2003: 25. Print.

Presentation Journal: Western Europe (France, Spain and Italy)

France, Spain and Italy, in Western Europe, are considered to be highly developed countries. The majority of their citizens are Catholic, and their governments follow the rules of democracy. The media has always had close ties with government, as well as a strong influence upon political spheres. All the countries in Western Europe seem to have evolved together. For example, analog television is now replaced by digital television. The switch started in Berlin 2003, moved to the Netherlands in 2006; and today, digital television is available in every country in Western Europe. It also is hard to impose certain quotas or restrictions because each country is interconnected with, and dependent upon, the others. France tried a film quota, but various rights, regulations, the multi-party system and media interfered. It is extremely difficult for an individual country to maintain ‘autonomy.’ The word 'autonomy' does not make sense anymore, especially in Western Europe, where it seems that the sovereignty lies not within one particular country but more within one region.

Presentation Journal: The Rest of the World (Nigeria, Afghanistan and Togo)

Nigeria, Afghanistan and Togo all seem to have a common theme of poverty and corruption, perhaps with a few glimmers of hope. Nigeria, which has a religious struggle with the population divided 50-50 between Christianity and Islam, uses media, such as radio, to defame the other faith. Their technology is also very unreliable and slow. Their film industry is legitimized through video piracy and corruption. In Togo, the media was used as a tool by the dictatorship, making conflict between the locals and the elites. Afghanistan is a complete mess from the U.S. invasion and Taliban occupancy. During the Taliban rule, a lot of the media was banned, including the broadcast of film, television, music, video and printed imagery. They could only broadcast religious sermons. State radio has always been considered untrustworthy, so people looked outside their country for news from media, like the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Just like Nigeria, Afghanistan’s technology is unreliable and money often gets tied up or ‘lost’ through corruption in government or outside influence.

Presentation Journal: East Asia

The countries of East Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) seem to have been influenced by the United States, even though, overtime, they became more independent. In addition, these countries are at the forefront of technology. But, with rapid evolution, as well as widespread and state of the art technology, these governments do not always know how to keep up with advancements, or make policies accordingly. Originally, Japan was dependent on the U.S. for their media; but eventually, they realized their hidden potential as a primary exporter of ‘animation, anime, to even game show formats.’ South Korea was influenced by CBS, the first, privately-owned broadcasting station that was financially supported by the United States. Both Korea and Taiwan had influential television shows. The Korean Wave and the Taiwanese-style Telenovelas created influential pop stars and interest for their countries' particular cultures by indirectly influencing their viewers to 'sightsee.' The media also twisted culture: in Japan, there is a cellphone culture, and in South Korea, a gaming addiction. With their worlds going more electronic each day, the governments are struggling to adapt to the rapid change. However, over time, they are finding ways to regulate the technology that has induced unhealthy habits and illegal actions.