Communication Research: New Challenges of the Latin American School
by José Marques de Melo, University of São Paulo

Publication Information: Article Title: Communication Research: New Challenges of the Latin American School. Contributors: José Marques De Melo - author. Journal Title: Journal of Communication. Volume: 43. Issue: 4. Publication Year: 1993. Page Number: 182.

The first research carried out by Latin American scholars on communication processes in Latin American appeared in the 1940s. Early studies focused on journalism and advertising, the hegemonic categories in the development of the emerging cultural industry. These studies coincided with the formation of the first schools of journalism, created in Argentina in 1934, Brazil in 1935, and Cuba in 1942. In fact, the studies were written mainly by faculty members of these schools.
These early studies followed the disciplines of history and law but were influenced by the social sciences. Examples include the trilogy on journalism by Cuban scholar Octavio de la Suarée (1944, 1946, 1948); works on advertising and propaganda by Brazilian scholars Ernani Macedo de Carvalho ( 1940 ) and Ary Kerner ( 1943 ); the work of Argentinean Carlos Juan Zavala Rodriguez ( 1947 ); and studies of the press in Mexico ( Miquel y Verges , 1941), Brazil ( Rizzini, 1946), and Argentina ( Ballester, 1947).
The following decade witnessed an increased diversity of research on the continent's growing communication industries. In Brazil, Salvyano Cavalcant de Paiva ( 1953 ) and Alex Vianny ( 1959 ) worked on cinema, while Saint-Clair Lopes ( 1957 ) researched radio broadcasting. In Argentina, Mouchet and Radelli ( 1957 ) studied the artistic copyrights of media. Other scholars, included Brazilian Genival Rabelo ( 1956 ), Chilean Alfonso Silva Delano ( 1960 ), Mexican Salvador Borrego ( 1951 ), Equadorian Gustavo Adolfo Otero ( 1953 ), and Venezuelan Julio Febres Cordero ( 1959 ). In addition, Brazilian Luiz Beltrão ( 1960 ) examined the treatment of current events and printed communication.
In 1959, the establishment of the international Center of Higher Journalism Studies for Latin America (CIESPAL), located in Ecuador under the sponsorship of UNESCO, gave communication research a new face, the face of empirical sociology. This meant the Latin American scholars would assimilate the concepts and methodologies originating from mass communication research at the Chicago School and the sciences de l'in-
José Marques de Melo is a professor in the Communication and Arts School at the University of São Paulo.
Copyright © 1993 Journal of Communication 43(4), Autumn. 0021-9916/93/$5.00

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