Análisis a partir de la Ley Orgánica de Comunicación 2013: la propiedad actual de los medios en el Ecuador y la percepción ciudadana en el cantón Santa Isabel sobre la democratización de la comunicación

Abstract

The Organic Law Communication of 2013, promoted and implemented by Correísmo in Ecuador; its objectives were to democratize communication and end media monopolies, mainly private. From these two aspects, the official discourse promoted the idea of a new moment for communication rights and freedoms. Between the debate prior to the approval of the LOC, some arguments were raised: vindicating the need to democratize communication from better control over the content disseminated in the media; a redistribution of frequencies - community, public and private media - to break the monopolies of private media. And from critical positions to the regime, demanding freedoms and communication rights. Five years later, in the heat of the national debate before a reform to the LOC, it is necessary to pay attention to the set of political and legal measures imposed; because the questions to the restrictive, antidemocratic and punitive character of this law, have not ceased. In this context, the ownership of the media in Ecuador is analyzed, as well as the perception of communication rights and freedoms in Santa Isabel, Azuay. Thus, this study is carried out through an inductive process, based on general conclusions on the democratization of communication; and from the observation and description of: secondary documentary information on communication and media ownership in Ecuador; and the primary information generated from interviews with key actors: journalists, managers and local media owners.