Transformation of the news media industry in the Global South

Globalization is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon that does not reach equally to all global actors. In fact, the lack of technological capabilities to promote innovation has been an essential conditioning factor that has limited an equal diffusion worldwide of technology, research, and development, thus restricting the concrete growth opportunities of the least favored countries. While in the Global South many countries still struggle to jump on the wave of Information Society, Northern countries have been navigating the waters of innovation and technology disruption for decades. In this chapter, we discuss the multiple external factors, mainly political and economic, which have contributed to the relative lack of academic studies on the patterns of journalism in Latin America. Through its evolution, the Latin American region has become a laboratory of interesting ideas and initiatives that shed lights on how to confront the problems suffered locally and by the media ecosystem worldwide.