Chilean News Media

This semester has been filled with story after story of uprisings, revolts,and disasters. It has been a lot of information to digest.  It seemed that everyday something new was happening in a different country.  Chile has not been a part of any turmoil in the recent months.  The news that I have been keeping track of all semester has been much more mellow, that of a country striving to expand and prosper. Maybe that is due to the fact that Chile has already had their times of military coups and dictatorships.  News has reflected their attempts to expand their free trade agreements, make advancements in nuclear energy, and promote freedom of press. 

Chile is currently considered to be a free press country and this is definitely reflected in their media. In 2010, Freedom press index had them rated at 33 out of 178 countries for their level of freedom in regards to their media, a whole 7 places higher than in 2009.  Chile is working to maintain their constitution's decree of freedom of speech and media which allows them to report on controversial issues and government policies without repercussions from any political officials. 

This strive for open press was made apparent when in 2010 they became the first country to pass a law on net- neutrality.  This law states that no ISP can block, interfere, or censor any user from sending, viewing, or using any legitimate sources on the Internet.  It also includes a clause that prohibits governmental control over the Internet.  As of March 22, 2011 they remain they only country to do so.

Although the country has freedom of press, the press is still limited in ownership.  Chile has what is considered a duopoly.  Two major conglomerates own the majority of the newspapers and magazines distributed in Chile.  Which leaves me wondering if the government isn't using the media to promote their agendas and to control the country, are the conglomerates?? Time will tell that tale and as discussed in class media conglomeration has it's positives and its negatives attributes to be expected.

But overall Chile seems to be on the right track.  Through their many efforts to expand economically, commercially, and globally it seems inevitable that they will continue to remain one of the most stable countries in Latin America and even pull ahead from them all.

In response to Osama bin laden's death

Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno addressed the death of the Al Qaeda leader from Rome.  He was on a visit to the Italian city to attend a ceremony arranged for the late Pope John Paul II.

His statement was translated by the Santiago Times on May 2nd.  He expressed his support of the U.S. military operation that resulted in the death of the fugitive.  He suggested that the terrorist got what was coming to him after years of running and it was his time to face the consequences of his actions.  He made a point to state that this was a "very important advance in the war on terrorism". 

He noted the importance of international communication and cooperation for the war not only terror, but also drug trafficking and organized crime.

Top Visited sites in Chile

There are over 8.4 million Internet users in Chile, with about 17 million people in the population as of June 2010.  According to Google's public data taken from World Bank, this makes up about 34% of Chile's population of Internet users.  This may not seem like much, but the percentage rates reported by Internet world stats have seen a 376.2% increase from 2000-2009.  Chile has been steadily growing throughout the years.  Also, one has to take into account that there are still citizens in the country that live in more traditional, rural communities. Efforts are being made to integrate these communities in to the technological era, so it is likely that within a few years those percentages will rise significantly. 

Here are the top sites currently visited by Chilean Internet users reported by Alexa.com

1. facebook
2.Google Chile
3.Google
4.YouTube
5.Windows live
6.blogger.com
7.yahoo
8.Las Ultimas Noticias
9.wikipedia
10.MSN
11.Taringa
12.Twitter
13. El Mercurio de Santiago
14.megaupload
15. Terra

Social media is obviously very popular in Chile.  I found it interesting that the most visited sites are mostly English sits, the Spanish sites do not appear until further down the list.

More trade expansion for Chile

At the end of April the Latin American News Dispatch reported that Chile was one of four Latin American countries to sign an agreement to work towards integrating their economies and promoting trade with Asia. By strengthening their ties with Asia the countries hope to develop "deep integration" that would make the exchange of people, goods, and services easier.

This group, that includes: Chile; Mexico; Columbia, and Peru, have the potential to become Latin America's largest trading block.  Their total economical market surpasses $872 billion, this makes up over55% of Latin America's exports.

Nothing is set in stone quite yet.  this agreement is looked at as more of a "road map" of where the countries would like to end up.  they have hope that the possible integration will increase the $6 billion in trade between the four Latin countries and Asia seen last year.

LOLLAPALOOZA in Chile??

For those all of you music fanatics out there I'm sure you are familiar with the word Lollapalooza. Mitch-a-palooza maybe?? Well if not, don't fear, it's a simple explanation. Lollapalooza is a 3 day music festival that takes place each year in Chicago. The festival was started 20 years ago by Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell. The festival has brought a musical blend of punk, hip-hop, new wave, electronica and (then as now) Jane’s Addiction to Chicago.

After reinventing the festival in 2005, Farrell decided that it was time to expand. Instead of taking lollapalooza over to Europe, just to be another one hundreds of music fetivals that already take place, he decided to tap into a new market- Chile!

The festival took place the first weekend in April in O'Higgins park, the second largest park in Chile, holding nearly 40,000 people a day. 40,000 may seem like a large crowd but in comparison to the fetival's usual 100,000 per day, the crowd was relatively small and Farrell did not foresee making a profit from this expansion, but money was not of concern.

The festival had a 50 band line up. The main headliners were all American, including Kanye West, the Killers, the Deftones and Jane’s Addiction. They added a new twist to the festival, each day included performances by Chilean and Spanish-speaking artists. Farrell was quoted saying, “we are also looking to bring some of those artists out to Chicago for a musical foreign exchange.”

Seems that while the country is taking on some new musical trends, adopting some American artists into their musical interests, they are still maintaining their local musical interests as well.

Let's Talk Music...

I've talked a lot about the different forms of media in Chile and who owns them, current events, and a brief overview of the country's structure. But let's discuss something a little lighter... MUSIC media!! Chile's musical interests range from traditional folkloric music, classical, to current popular music trends.

Many of the folklore melodies have roots within the different indigenous tribes of northern, central, and southern Chile. Their national dance is called the cueca. The dance is a story of a man pursuing a woman who plays coy hiding behind her handkerchief and it is performed at every important festival in Chile.

One of the biggest musical movements of the country came in the 1960s with the introduction of "nueva canción" (new song) movement. This movement put emphasis on the use of guitars, traditional Andean instruments, and began using politically based lyrics to address the struggles for change. Violeta Parra was a popular singer of this style of music and a member of one of the country's most popular bands, Los Jaivas. Victor Jara was another singer to gain fame from this musical movement.

http://youtu.be/K8cC-D8L02I

Groups from the "nueva cancion" movement such as Inti-Illimani and Quilapayún used their musical talents to speak out against the Pinochet dictatorship and were driven underground. Their tapes influenced artists all over Latin America.
http://youtu.be/-Doqe4fDgI8

Today, a lot of clubs embrace the popular trends in music. Reggaeton, cumbia, and salsa music can be heard playing in many Chilean clubs. Chile also has artists dabbling in rock, metal,and their own twist on techno. Many of the artist's, exiled in Pinochet's reign, children have made musical name for themselves as well. Some popular ones include: DJ Ricardo Villalobos,DJ Luciano, Alejandro Vivanco, Pier Bucci, Cuti Aste, Bitman & Roban, Claude Roubillie and Electrodomesticos.
http://youtu.be/lyac4HmsC2Q

Chile Set to Exhume President Allende's Body

Last Friday, Chilean judge Mario Carroza ordered the exhumation of the late President Allende's body decades after his death during the bloody 1973 coup that resulted in General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. The disinterment, which is scheduled to take place some time late next month, will be done in an attempt to put to rest any questions surrounding the death of the president.

Autopsies performed hours after the death of President Allende stated that the president died from a self-inflicted gun shot would through the chin with a AK- 47 assault rifle. But questions still trouble many human rights groups and political officials. They wonder if his death was really due to suicide or if he met his untimely end by General Pinochet's military forces. The autopsy will continue the investigation announced in January by a Chilean prosecutor into the death of Allende's death and more that 725 additional human rights complaints against General Pinochet’s military dictatorship.

Allende's family has long accepted the theory that their relative committed suicide and never disputed it. Although, recently the family made a formal request to have the body exhumed for autopsy. Allende's daughter Isabel Allende, who is also a Socialist member of Parliament, told CNN-Chile, “It’s not that the family has changed their minds, or that we have doubts that we didn’t have before, but we support a criminal investigation that has never happened. We think it is extremely important for the country and the world that we legally establish the causes and circumstances of his death, which occurred under extreme violence.” At the time of his death the family was never allowed to see the body, a closed casket funeral was 75 miles out of Santiago; his current resting place.

It will be very interesting to see the results that experts at the Legal Medical Service report in regards to the official's death. This exhumation will bring clarity to one of Chile's major historical events. It seems to be another step in Chile's effort to open politics to the public, giving their citizens access to more information.