Crisis, what crisis? Argentine media in view of the 2008 International Financial Crisis

Abstract

The premise of this article is that the reaction of the Argentine mass media system to the 2008 international financial crisis exhibits peculiar features due to the country’s history over the last three decades, when economic crises became part of the "Argentine normalcy” rather than the exception. To present the argument for this premise, the article points out relevant events in Argentine history over the last 35 years, emphasizing the sequence of economic, political, and social crises, the structure of Argentina’s mass media system, its main actors, the process of concentration of ownership, which is considered of “conglomerate nature,” and the characteristics of the news coverage of the 2008 international financial crisis by the main media groups. On the threshold of this crisis, the Fernández administration promoted a media reform bill, which led to a major clash with the most important mass media owners. The law, passed by Congress in October 2009, stirred up criticism directed by large media groups against the government ― criticism that had started during the international financial crisis.