Chile's student protests could help break up the country's concentrated media empires, suggested a new report from Reporters without Borders.
According to Reporters Without Borders, the protests are a challenge to the current political and economic model inherited from the Pinochet era, reported IFEX. "During the last 20 years of rule by the Concert of Parties for Democracy, media ownership continued to be concentrated in very few hands, hindering pluralism and leading to conflicts of interest," the group said from its headquarters in Paris.
Despite the lack of diverse voices in the mainstream Chilean media, Reporters Without Borders suggested that the rise of online and alternative media has played a central role in the coverage and organization of the protests, reported the Spanish news agency EFE. Protesters have a wide range of demands from greater investment in higher education to better working conditions in the South American country's mines.
