UC San Diego

The increasing importance of television within the modern political history of Latin America is a well-established fact, yet there are relatively few academic investigations that focus on analyzing the relationship between political systems and television models. This thesis attempts to provide an historical overview mapping the political trends of the first twenty years of television history in the region, and looks critically at the pervasive instrumentalization of television and its political ascendancy in Latin American. By establishing links and indexing these general trends between Latin American political systems, democratic change, and the deployment of television we can better understand the fundamental role this form of mass media has played in the region since its introduction to the region in the 1950s through 1970