News Media Plurality by Means of International Cooperation: The Case of "Voces" in El Salvador

• In Event: Development Assistance and Independent Journalism: A Research Network Discussion

Abstract

Silvia Olmedo-Salar, Universidad de Málaga
and
Jairo Lugo-Ocando, University of Leeds, UK

In recent times, International Cooperation efforts in the area of communication have tended to avoid allocating resources to projects that are perceived to be too political or partisan. However, in 2011 both the national Government of Spain and the regional authority of Andalucía decided ‘unexpectedly’ to fund the creation of a newspaper in El Salvador. In the wider context of diplomacy, it is the first and so far only time that the Spanish government has undertaken such a step in an area that could potentially be interpreted by the Salvadorian authorities or opposition parties as an intervention in the internal affairs of that country. This article examines how the Spanish donors reached this decision, the outcomes of the financial support and the implications of this aid in the wider context of news media plurality in that nation. Indeed, as it is argued in this work, the unprecedented decision to allocate resources for the creation of a news media to promote independent journalism that would eventually be critical of those in power can be explained by a series of contextual aspects of the current state of journalism in El Salvador. Nevertheless, as the authors also argue, this does not demerit the initiative as a space of complementary news plurality. The paper is based on research carried out in the field, which included ethnographic approaches such as observations, semi-structured interviews with key players and comparative analysis of media content.

Authors

• Silvia Olmedo-Salar, U de Málaga

• Jairo Lugo-Ocando, U of Leeds