The persistence of obstacles: the right to communication in the emergency of a pandemic and a past present

Abstract

This paper identifies the perceptions and assessments of actors in the public and private, and profit and nonprofit sectors regarding obstacles to exercising the right to communication during the pandemic and post-pandemic period (2020-2024). Our hypothesis is that these obstacles have worsened in recent years, which is especially evident in relation to media concentration, the difficulties in media sustainability, the precariousness of employment and working conditions for workers, the circulation of misinformation, along with restrictions and risks to press freedom. The study covers six Argentine regions: Northwest Argentina (NOA), Northeast Argentina (NEA), Cuyo, Central Argentina, Patagonia, and Metropolitan Argentina. The perceptions and assessments of various social actors were analyzed based on a purposive sample comprised of semi-structured interviews conducted by our team with representatives from the public sector, the for-profit private sector, and the private socio-community sector. The work is part of a research project conducted by the Argentine Network of Researchers in Communication and Culture with a Rights-Based Approach (RAICCED, for its acronyms in Spanish).