Satiric Magazines as Hybrid Alternative Media in Latin America

Abstract

This article explores the cases of two satirical publications—The Clinic (Chile, 1998–) and Barcelona (Argentina, 2003–). Through critical humor, visual subversions, and parody, these independent magazines challenged mainstream journalism and official political discourse, offering alternative interpretations about the ruling class and society after traumatic periods—Pinochet’s military dictatorship in Chile and the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina. Through interviews with the editors and content analysis, this article examines how these satirical publications responded to their respective national contexts by questioning the functioning of power on several levels of society, and how they evolved after they became popular, negotiating their space within the national mediascape. This study also suggests the notion of hybrid alternative media to describe these publications, which became part of a liberating process of collective healing. Initially perceived in opposition to mainstream media in contexts when the press’s credibility had decreased, they filled gaps in their society’s political communication.

Transnational Visual Parodies: Political Cartoons of Perón in the Chilean Satirical Magazine Topaze, 1943–1958

“…Although it seems crucial to reiterate the importance of nationalism as an underlying element of anti-Peronism in Chile, political cartoons created narrative understandings of Perón that had broader meanings both locally and transnationally. Cartoonists played an important role in political contests as they criticized governments, denounced censorship, and forged transnational ideological affiliations (Alonso 2019;Sáez and Vera 2021). Chilean cartoonists, in particular, displayed extensive imagery on Perón as a classic Latin American strongman, depicting him as a narcissistic dictator and a malevolent giant able to sniff across the Andes to buy local adherents.…”

Hybrid Alternative Digital-Native Media in Latin America during the Pandemic (Two Peruvian cases of Entrepreneurial Journalism hosted from Spain)

“…They tend to cover social movements, disenfranchised groups, and often align themselves with causes such as anti-homophobia, pro-justice, and pro-freedom of expression, but don't associate themselves with the region's militant, activist press. In today's mediascape, very few independent native digital media projects meet all the revolutionary, counter-hegemonic ideals potentially expected from previous alternative militant media, and what is considered alternative at one point could be mainstream at another (Alonso, 2019;Bailey et al, 2008). Atton (2002) advocated that an alternative publication might be interrogated as to its radical level in terms of a multidimensional character, a perspective that privileges the overlap and intersection of dimensions, evidencing that an alternative publication is, in the end, a hybrid product that includes mixed voices and discourses.…”

“…Hájek and Carpentier (2015) suggested viewing these outlets as "alternative mainstream media." Alonso (2019) and Harlow (2021b) have used the terms "hybrid alternative media" and "hybrid popular media," respectively, to refer to contemporary independent Latin American publications composed of a multilayered "mestizaje" (or blending) of professional practices, languages, and cultures.…”

The Influence of Pinochet on the Chilean Miracle

“…Conventional wisdom tends to attribute the outstanding Chilean performance to the "free market reforms instituted by the administration of General Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1989" (Barro 2000, 22). However, his regime systematically violated human rights and imposed strong censorship (Alonso 2019). The Valech Report documented 38,254 victims who were held as political prisoners and tortured.…”