Azcárraga-Salinas: the tricolor television
Marco Rascón


Both of them are self-defined the same: they aren't priists, they are with the President; defend the same economic model; they will support in 2000 "the one who win"; they're agressive and young bussiness men, and say they make basically, an enterteinment television. Both of them are leaded by rating , and desire to monpolize more written media, phonographs production, spectacles, soccer and space commercialization. Both of them discovered "freedom press" since December 5th, 1997 to attack DF government; the public concession and social function of media depend on their intrests.

Together with PRI's (IRP.- Institutional Revolutionary Party) colors, television is one of the most effective ideological structures of the old regime; so, it must be inside the State Reform agenda, since false dispute on both firms contents obstructs cultural development, democracy and even all political and social expressions .

By them, Mexico is weak in front of the globalization and the economical blocks which we were humbled to; the media has made of us, a country with a lack of identity and submissive. They are responsibles for the national weakness that deepens before the poor quality and distortion of reality, promoted through a Nation owned mean. They don't believe in the Mexican people and defame it; they're a cultural and ideological instrument of conservativism and the authoritarian priist regime culture reproduction that have always defended.

When Sate's television was privatized, people thought it would be a way towards democracy; it wasn't that way. Privatization generated an expectation that quickly ends when it was demonstrated that for the new owner, the reproduction of Emilo Azcárraga's design would deepen. Televisa's decadence was a ephemeral boom of TV Azteca, but very soon became its decadent mirror. The called "media war" was a contest for idiocy, no information, racism and intolerance.

Azcárraga Milmo established the monopolic concept of concentrating production, commercialization, programs, spectacle, sports, content and relations with the State. His contribution was rounded by men such as Othón Vélez, Guillermo Cañedo, Raúl Velasco, Jacobo Zabludovsky, Luis de Llano and Pimpstein. Increasingly, the scarse original quality and the national values expressions were lost with garbage artists, fals imitations and the ideology of enthusiastic losers; the topic of the houseworker who ascends was Azcárraga's apothegma.

Soap-operas exporter and USA ideology importer, Televisa sank becoming the ideological arm of the State and PRI, promotor of the big hat mexican hooligan, adversary of the '68 student and the '88 voter citizen. Televisa's model citizen is apolitical, neutral, individualist, and enemy of the social fights, the resistence struggles against the economical model. Televisa is part of PRI's decadence, but right now is seeking for salvation and being the same.

Emilio Azcárraga Jean is moving away from PRI, but no of the priist culture nor the conservativism, and tries to preserve and reproduce the same monoplic structure of his family and his group.

TV Azteca --born froma dark privatization processs, no exempt of corruption-- was born with the original sin: corrupt assistent of neoliberalism and salinism. In order to get credibility, launched pyrothecnical games against "the other television", but repeats and imites the same informative subjective scheme of submission to government "because respects the President" and demonstartes it exempting him off the peluches. Its real mission is demonstrate that the federal capital of the nation, the south, is the garbage and real Mexico's problem. With a prejudiced vission spreads a subliminal message : chilangos(a nick for DF's inhabitants) are violent, poor, lazy, brown, runt, and ugly.

Paradoxically, its programatic weakness opened a precedent: the possibility of returning to a program TV guide made by independent producers, which labeled the start of a new content soap-opera. TV Azteca's earned rating, through Argos, obbeys that this firm do not depends on Salinas Pliego's criterion, who with no imagination exploits artists, converts programs ina grosery store, and defends the same informative political and bussines line as Televisa does. So, Argos, is today the main TV Azteca's competitor.

A real State reform should take away Salinas and Azcárraga the broadcasting-production-commercialization monopoly, because they have demonstrated they are a danger for national identity and Mexico's progress.

Taken from "La Jornada" , May 7th, 1998.

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Most recent revision: May 19, 2002.