Monterrey and the Local Media. The study of ideological reproduction through four life stories

• Main Author: Dda. Lorena Frankenberg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de La Laguna 2008-01-01
• Series: Revista Latina de Comunicación Social
• Subjects: Cultural studies; ideological discourse; civic identity; texts; local news media; Monterrey; citizenship; industrial elite; biographies; life stories; social analysis.
• Online Access: http://www.ull.es/publicaciones/latina/_2008/24_35_Monterrey/Lorena_Frankenberg.html

This paper analyses the ideological discourse of the local print and television news media of the eighties in the city of Monterrey, Mexico according to the biographical narratives of four leading journalists. The purpose is to pay attention to the role of ideology in the media as emphasized by cultural studies in its beginnings. The main question posed was: What was the role of the media in the eighties in the reproduction of the ideology of the economic and industrial elite of Monterrey and its relationship with the value system and civic identity of the audience members? According to the journalists interviewed, members of the industrial elite had a direct and explicit influence in the policies and contents of the main local newspapers and television stations, except for a daily newspaper that lost its predominance when rejecting that influence. The paper discusses the close relationship between media, audiences and the structures of ideological reproduction of the local industrial group, and the ways in which all these elements continously interact.