1.
Media
and
Social
Media
in
Mexico
2012
Lecture
Course:
Journalism
and
Media
in
LatinAmerica.
University
of
North
Carolina
Chapel
Hill
By
María
Elena
Meneses
Tecnológico
de
Monterrey
@marmenes
Mexico
doesn´t
have
a
strong
democracy
according
with
the
typology
established
by
Professor
Benjamin
Barber,
not
as
the
United
States
or
some
of
the
European
countries.
During
the
XX
century,
Mexico
was
ruled
for
-­‐seventy
years-­‐
by
a
single
party,
the
Institutional
Revolutionary
Party,
PRI.
Political
alternance
started
only
thirteen
years
ago
in
2000
with
the
triumph
of
the
president
Vicente
Fox
from
the
National
Action
Party,
and
six
years
after-­‐
in
2006-­‐
with
Felipe
Calderón.
What
happend
last
year?:
The
PRI
came
back
to
power.
Our
democracy
is
not
strong
and
much
less
our
political
culture,
which
is
characterized
by
lack
of
trust
towards
the
institutions,
the
political
parties
and
politicians.
Traditional
Media
vs
Social
Media
Mexico
has
one
hundred
twelve
million
people.
42
million
have
Internet
access,
which
is
one
fourth
of
the
total
population.
The
fixed
broadband
penetration
is
low.
It
does
not
reach
fifteen
percent
of
the
population
(SCT,
2011).
Mobile
broadband
doesn´t
reach
the
ten
percent.
In
contrast-­‐
open
Television
is
dominated
by
two
TV
networks:
Televisa
and
TV
Azteca.
They
reach
ninety-­‐eight
percent
of
the
Mexican
homes.
Televisa
is
itself
a
virtual
monopoly
in
the
cable
TV
market,
in
which
twenty-­‐seven
point
two
percent
of
the
Mexican
homes
are
subscribed.
1

2. Mexico
is
a
TV
viewer
country,
where
newspapers
are
not
red
and
Internet
penetration
is
low.
Social
networks
are
growing
and
becoming
important.
Thirty
four
million
people
have
Facebook
(Socialbakers,
2011)
Fourteen
million
people
use
Twitter
(Semiocast,
2011)
Twitter
is
a
small
network
in
Mexico,
but
it
is
influential.
We
can
find
there
politicians,
journalists,
intelectuals,
academics
and
a
well
educated
middle
class
requiring
accountability
to
the
politicians.10
million
people
use
YouTube.
Even
if
the
Internet
penetration
is
low.
Are
social
media
important
in
a
mexican
presidential
campaign?
My
answer
is
yes,
because
social
networks
users
are
influential;
they
are
mostly
young
and
the
future
of
Mexican
democracy.
No
politician
can
ignore
them.
As
you
know
Peña
won
the
presidency
with
38%
of
the
votes.
The
Federal
Election
was
a
wonderful
lab
to
learn
a
little
more
about
the
relationship
between
social
media
and
political
engagement
in
Mexico.
We
can
identify
the
following
features
of
the
role
Internet
played
in
the
political
process
of
2012:
1. As
a
transfer
of
political
parties’
practices
from
the
offline
to
the
online
environment.
2. As
a
counterweight
of
the
traidtional
media.
3. As
new
experiences
for
citizen
participation..
1.Political
practices
from
the
offline
to
the
online
environment
Since
the
middle
term
elections
in
2009,
the
web
has
been
outlined
as
the
ideal
public
sphere.
2012
was
not
the
exception,
social
networks
sites,
as
Facebook
–
Twitter
and
YouTube
were
used
by
the
candidets
and
citizens.
What
did
candidets
do
in
socialnetworks
?
2

3. Political
parties
and
candidates
used
social
media
for
their
own
interests,
without
the
minimum
attempt
to
use
these
platforms
–which,
technically,
can
promote
the
citizen
participation-­‐
to
involve
the
citizens
in
creative
or
interactive
dialogues.
They
implemented
strategies
for
digital
voters’
mobilization.
This
includes
buying
followers,
using
robots
and
trolls,
whose
role
is
to
annoy
and,
in
some
cases
attack
the
political
enemies.
In
Mexico
the
private
financing
to
the
parties
is
forbbiden.
I
observed
that
between
2011
and
2012
the
number
of
social
media
users
increased
in
Mexico
–and
even
when
this
phenomenon
should
not
be
attributed
only
to
the
electoral
process,
it
might
be
a
cause
.
For
example
according
with
Semiocast
in
January
2012
there
was
11
million
Twitter
users-­‐
in
July
it
registered
fourteen
millon.
Probably
Social
networks
engaged
Mexicans
in
political
issues
above
all
young
people.
2.
As
a
counterweight
The
role
of
social
networks
in
the
electoral
process
could
have
gone
unnoticed
if
it
had
not
been
for
the
student
movement
#Yosoy132
(I
am
a
hundred
and
thirty
two)
which,
in
a
surprising
and
ludic
way,
appeared
in
the
scene,
hand
by
hand
with
the
social
media.
The
movement
emerged
as
a
response
to
the
leaders
of
the
Institutional
Revolutionary
Party
who
acussed
the
students
of
the
Universidad
Ibearoamericana
in
Mexico
City
that
protested
against
the
candidat
Enrique
Peña
Nieto.
The
PRI
leaders
accused
the
protesters
of
being
infiltrated
people
in
the
university,
they
were
not
studenst,
they
said.
This
fact
was
almost
ignored
by
the
TV
network
Televisa,
and
manipulated
by
regional
and
local
newspapers
owned
by
the
media
conglomerate
named
Organización
Editorial
Mexicana
the
one
that
headlined
“Success
of
Peña
in
the
Ibero
University,
despite
attempt
of
boycott”.
3

4. The
movement
marked
the
electoral
process
by
its
freshness,
youth
and
by
how
disruptive
their
electoral
speech
was,
compared
to
the
one
portrayed
in
traditional
media.
Social
media
helped
the
young
people
of
the
Universidad
Iberoamericana
and,
later,
other
public
and
private
institutions
of
higher
education
to
articulate
the
disagreement
and
organize
mobilizations
–mainly
in
Mexico
City.
They
gave
a
new
meaning
to
politics,
thanks
to
their
demand
of
a
democratization
of
TV,
it
means,
the
end
of
Televisa
power
which
supported
Enrique
Peña
Nieto.
In
Mexico
the
media
can´t
support
a
candidate,
media
must
be
fair.
Yo
soy
132
was
a
movement
against
the
authority
and
authoritarians
The
Yosoy132
began
in
may-­‐
two
months
before
the
elecions
day-­‐
with
a
YouTube
video
named
131
students
respond-­‐
where
the
sudents
replied
the
PRI
leaders
showing
their
student
idis.
They
said
in
that
historical
video:
"We
are
students
not
infiltrated
people
and
nobody
trained
us
for
nothing.
We
are
using
our
right
to
expression
in
order
to
deny
your
acussations".
According
with
a
survey
that
I
did
during
the
campaigns-­‐
with
my
friends
an
colleagues
Enedina
Ortega
and
Gustavo
Urbina
with
a
grant
form
the
UNDP-­‐
The
generation
of
young
educated
people
who
live
in
urban
areas
does
not
feel
identified
with
the
biased
traditional
media
and,
furthermore,
it
is
perceived
by
them
as
an
obstacle
to
the
freedom
of
expression.
We
must
highlight
the
organization
of
the
first
presidential
debate
arranged
by
the
students,
broadcasted
by
YouTube
and
web
sites.
The
students
produced
the
debate,
the
anchors
were
two
professors
and
one
student
from
the
Tecnológico
de
Monterrey.
Without
a
doubt,
the
student´s
movement
broke
into
the
agenda
–which
until
then
was
dominated
by
traditional
media-­‐
and
probably
modified
the
perception
that
electors
had
about
the
candidates.
A
study
about
the
electoral
process,
made
by
the
organization
México
Evalúa
(2012),
correlated
the
households
with
Internet
and
the
electoral
outcome.
According
to
them,
the
PAN
candidate,
Josefina
Vázquez
Mota,
was
the
most
benefited
by
the
4

5. Internet.
However,
when
the
presence
of
TV
sets
was
compared
to
the
electoral
results,
the
most
benefited
candidate
was
Enrique
Peña
Nieto.
According
to
another
study
from
the
World
Internet
Project
and
Tecnológico
de
Monterrey,
forty-­‐three
percent
of
the
web
users
admitted
that
the
web
had
influenced
their
vote
(WIP,
2012).
3.Citizen
participation
During
the
campaigns
the
presence
of
online
projects
made
by
the
civil
society
was
highlighted.
They
were
oriented
to
provide
information
about
the
candidates
and
their
proposals.
By
the
Election
Day
there
were
about
thirty
projects,
some
with
more
visibility
than
others
to
watch
the
election
and
denounce
irregularities.
Among
the
projects
it
stood
out
the
ones
made
by
Fundación
Espinosa
Yglesias
and
Arena
Electoral,
the
last
one
was
followed
by
two
hundred
sixteen
thousand
users
according
with
it´s
creator
who
studied
Law
in
our
campus.
I
coordinate
the
Internet
Studies
Center
at
Tecnológico
de
Monterrey
and
with
You
Tube
opened
a
civic
observatory
where
citizens
could
upload
videos
of
their
own
experiences
during
the
election
day.
These
kind
of
projects
appeared
for
the
first
time
in
the
mexicanelectoral
history
-­‐in
contrast
with
the
information
strategy
implemented
by
traditional
media.
From
this
traditional
media
I
highlight
the
manipulation
of
polls
in
favour
of
Peña
Nieto.
Most
of
the
Mexicans
have
still
no
access
to
the
Internet
and
to
the
connection
gap
we
must
add
the
problem
of
speed,
caused
by
the
low
penetration
of
broadband.
At
the
moment,
the
digital
divide
does
not
allow
social
media
to
create
a
real
counterweight
to
the
power
of
TV.
However,
the
lesson
is
that
Mexico
is
facing
important
social
and
cultural
changes
that
must
be
taken
into
account
to
launch
new
bills,
regulations
and
public
policies.
All
of
these
should
promote
a
digital
inclusion,
a
diverse
media
and
competition
among
telecommunications.
Internet
increased
the
worst
practices
by
the
political
parties
and
traditional
media
in
2012,
but
it
favored
the
youth
political
engagement
and
it
helped
the
broadening
of
democracy
in
Mexico.
I
want
to
share
the
tweet
I
send
the
day
that
Peña
took
posession:
I
tweeted:
"It
could
be
the
same
PRI
but
the
mexican
society
is
not
the
same"
5

6. I´m
sure
that
in
this
country,
we
are
experiencing
interesting
cultural
and
political
changes.
Thank
you
6