Supporters of Bolsonaro in Belo Horizonte, 2021. His lasting influence on media freedom has been deflated by strong democratic institutions in the country. Photo by Matheus Câmara da Silva
By Beth Pearson and Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara
A klaxon has been sounding over media freedom in the Western world for several years. On one hand, the demise of the printed press and the lack of income from digital models that are replacing it has resulted in a funding crisis for democratic journalism. On the other, there’s politics: Trump’s second term, the rise of the right in Europe and populist playbooks that include direct challenges to and harassment of reporters and media outlets, and circulation of misinformation on social media.
In this way, media freedom contracts between the rock of political pressures and the hard place of economic realities; and with no clear durable solutions on the horizon, it will contract still further. So, what can be learned from beyond the Western world on how to deal with the challenges this brings?
Research from Africa and Latin America offers food for thought. Our edited book Media Capture in Africa and Latin America: Power and Resistance focusses on different forms of ‘media capture’ – a term increasingly used to describe severe forms of influence on media outlets and journalists that compromise their professional independence. Essentially, media capture is the opposite of media freedom, and media experts from both regions help us understand how it operates, as well as how it can be challenged.
Authors Beth Pearson and Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara
The dangers of populism and private media
Brazil yields important warnings about the perfect storm of populist leaders and large private media companies. Like many Latin America countries, the media in Brazil bore the vestigial marks of its authoritarian era when Jair Bolsonaro came to power in 2019. During his presidency, Brazil’s media landscape became a battleground for misinformation and authoritarian rhetoric. Bolsonaro weaponised social media to bypass traditional news outlets, often accusing them of bias, while consolidating ties with sympathetic broadcasters. This strategy not only polarised the public but also weakened trust in journalism. Yet Brazil’s recent democratic recovery highlights how civil society and independent media can reclaim space. Investigative journalism played a critical role in exposing corruption scandals, while grassroots movements pushed back against misinformation. Brazil’s experience underscores the importance of holding both public officials and private media accountable to democratic norms.
Resisting policy capture
Media reforms can both liberate and control the media. Experiences in Argentina and Ghana are instructive when it comes to being vigilant about regulatory and policy capture. In Argentina, successive governments have used media policy as a tool to consolidate power. In the Internet sector, elite political capture of policymaking processes prevented regulation until civil society organisations successfully campaigned for it. However, using a rights-based approach, data and digital activists targeted the public as well as institutions to argue for regulation.
Ghana also offers a template for resistance in contexts where media regulation is shaped by political and corporate rather than the public interest. Civil society organisations, including journalists’ associations, have mobilised to demand transparency in media regulation. This advocacy has led to policy debates and legal reforms aimed at creating a fairer media environment. Ghana shows that constant vigilance and active engagement with regulatory frameworks are key to preserving media independence.
How journalists can resist political pressure
Journalists in Mexico and Uganda show us how media capture can be resisted. In Mexico, journalists work under the most dangerous conditions in the world, while also navigating very close relationships between media elites and political actors that inhibit both the bark and bite of watchdog journalism. In this context, “responsive journalism” has developed as a form of resistance: professional journalists utilising digital media to directly engage audiences in investigations of issues challenging the status quo. Rigorous and objective journalism is key for this approach, as is transparency of funding sources, to avoid mistrust by audiences.
In Uganda, attempts by the government to control the media are met with strong resistance when journalists work in concert with other actors in the media sphere, including lawyers and civil society groups. Tactics such as protest, media blackouts, public advocacy and legal action have shown that even under conditions of soft and hard censorship, journalists can still exercise agency.
Towards a global dialogue
While rooted in the Global South, these examples highlight broader patterns relevant to media freedom worldwide. Media capture thrives in environments of inequality, polarisation, and weak institutional safeguards. Countering it requires a multi-pronged approach: robust legal protections for press freedom, financial support for independent media, and international collaboration to share strategies and resources.
Moreover, resistance in Africa and Latin America challenge the Western-centric framing of media freedom debates. They demonstrate that solutions to media capture are not one-size-fits-all but must be adapted to local realities. This calls for more inclusive dialogues across the Global South and between the Global South and North.
As the threats to media freedom grow increasingly global, the experiences of countries such as those described above offer valuable lessons in both the dangers of media capture and the resilience of those who resist it. By looking beyond the Western world, we can expand our understanding of media democracy and build a more inclusive and effective global framework to address these challenges. The future of media freedom may depend on it.
Media Capture in Africa and Latin America: Power and Resistance by Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara and Beth Pearson (eds) is published by Palgrave Macmillan.
Listen to an extract from the preface featuring Herman Wasserman and Silvio Waisbord here.
Opinions expressed here are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies or positions of the EJO or the organisations with which they are affiliated.
