Infrastructure for citizen access in Argentine state media (2003-2009)

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the infrastructure put in place for the production and distribution of audiovisual content and developed within state media managed by the National System of Public Media during the 2003-2009 period in Argentina. In doing so, we attempt to understand what conditions were created for citizen access to state productions. Conceived within a Latin American tradition of critical studies on communication policies, this investigation adheres to a methodological model that collects empirical data for an approach that combines qualitative and quantitative information. This approach emerges from a theoretical framework that problematizes notions of public media and citizen access. From this methodological and theoretical foundation, we conclude that, during the period noted above, state policy focused on updating technology and buildings dedicated to the production, transmission, and broader distribution of the media contents under analysis. This initiative included legal and budgetary instruments specifically put in place by the head of state in order to deal with technological obsolescence, systemic subsidiarity, and precarious building structures. This policy had the effectof increasing citizen access to the reviewed media contents for greater segments of the population. However, this occurred in a context dominated by concentrated commercial actors.