Media power in Central America /

Although half a dozen books have surveyed Latin or South American mass media, virtually none has honed in on Central America. Rockwell (American Univ.) and Janus (Academy for Educational Development) fill that gap admirably, looking at the interplay among politics, mass-media systems, and attempts at democratization in country-by-country analyses of El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Though Mexico is not given a separate chapter, throughout the authors treat its gargantuan influence on programming and ownership in each of the countries. They dissect Central American government/media trends and issues that are common worldwide: US bungling in democratization attempts; strong relationships between commercial media and authoritarian regimes; government-sponsored repression, economic censorship, and corruption; continuing concentration of power of government and media in the hands of a select few; failure of guerrilla wars to yield anticipated free media systems. The book benefits from a prodigious amount of on-the-spot research (the result of eight visits to the region and 250-plus interviews with media personnel at all levels) and careful analytical meshing of primary and secondary sources. A chapter on Mexico and interviews with nonmedia government officials would have strengthened the work, but these shortcomings do not mar this excellent, readable volume. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. A. Lent Temple University