The Turn of the “Pink Tide” in Latin America: A New “Decade of Fire” in Media Policies?

This chapter analyses the evolution of communication policies in the Latin American public agenda in the twenty-first century. It focuses on the study of countries whose governments have proclaimed themselves as leftist or progressive, in an attempt to find common trends in the implementation processes of their public policies. It also analyses the conservative restoration that took place after 2015 in almost all the countries considered. The chapter takes as a theoretical reference the academic debates that took place in Latin America in the 1970s and that served as a conceptual basis for the public policies implemented at the beginning of the twenty-first century. All “progressive” governments promoted the debate on the democratisation of communication and encouraged state-owned media, while only some were able to implement legislative changes. The chapter studies the scope and limitations of public policies in a context of attempted political and social change.