ABSTRACT
Latin America's transition to democracy nonetheless failed to address many problems of governance, from the ingrained tradition of political elitism to socio-economic inequalities, bureaucratic administrations and the existence of clientelistic relationships amongst social and political actors. In Brazil the blogosphere has emerged as a vital vehicle for strengthening political pluralism and discussion. Media systems in the region have seen a transition away from family-owned to more internationalized corporations. The debate on media democratization throughout the continent thus needs to be pursued with more maturity, and cast in the context of both right populism, authoritarianism and the fragility of democratic politics. Latin American nations have thus traditionally had weak public communications platforms and it has been in the context of the process of democratization that many are seeking to fortify existing public spaces of debate in order to expand citizens' information rights.
