Latin American Sport Media

Book excerpt: This book provides an historical overview of the formation of sports media in Latin America and its role in the construction of the political history of Latin American sport. The sports press was a privileged observer of the development of modern sports, but it was also a key factor in the making of professional sports in Latin America. Most of the literature on sport in Latin America treats the sports press as an historical source, rarely taking it as an object of study in itself. However, the development of sports in the region is connected to national and state-building processes and the role of media narratives is crucial to understanding how sports participate in those processes. Spanning the globalization of football in the late nineteenth century to the shift promoted by television in the 1970s, the chapters survey the historical development of sports media in Latin America. Representing ten countries, the contributors follow a framework that presents the press not as a passive narrator of the sports phenomenon, but as a social agent of the sports field. This book is of use to those interested in the history of sports and the media, and it will be a good resource for undergraduates taking courses on Sports History, Latin American History, Sports Management, and Journalism and Communication.