Owning a Voice: Broadcasting Policy, Spanish Language Media, and Latina/o Speech Rights

Abstract

Using the sale of Univision in 2007 to a consortium of private equity firms as our case study, this article demonstrates how the regulation of Spanish-language broadcasting has codified exclusionary definitions of media diversity and naturalized English-language citizens as the primary members of the televisual public sphere in the United States. We situate the regulation of Spanish-language broadcasting within the troubled history of media diversity initiatives and alongside the ascent of neoliberal policy-making to highlight how regulators have been unwilling to recognize the importance of linguistic diversity to a multicultural and multiracial society. Drawing on participatory democratic theory, we argue that the regulation of Spanish-language broadcasting has infringed on the political rights of Latino citizens.