The television families of Mexico and the Philippines: dynasties and caciques in transpacific media cultures

Abstract

Metaphors of family play a particular part in representing and justifying the public role of elite families and media empires in Mexico and the Philippines, two countries on opposite sides of the Pacific that feature linked histories of Spanish colonial heritage and intimate connections to the cultural and economic history of the modern United States. The media industries of Mexico and the Philippines share some important characteristics: powerful commercial television networks are operated by prominent elite family companies, whose multimedia empires wield political and economic influence nationwide. An industry model of elite family dominance is reflected in the ways that contemporary television programs, hosts, and viewers understand themselves as belonging to sorts of ‘television families’. The nature of Mexican and Philippine television industries as family businesses writ large merits more extensive comparative historical exploration. These parallel cases draw attention to how media may be productively compared and studied across the Pacific regions of Asia and the Americas.