Television and Neopopulism in Latin America: Media Effects in Brazil and Peru.

Several Latin American countries have experienced the recent emergence of neopopulist political candidates who eschew ties to traditional parties and orient their campaigns toward the atomized poor. In this article I examine the role of television in the electoral success of these politicians. Using survey data, I assess the impact of television in three cases of anti-party neopopulism: the 1989 election of Fernando Collor in Brazil, the 2000 election of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and the 2001 election of Alejandro Toledo in Peru. Statistical analysis confirms our theoretical expectations about media effects in the first two elections (where coverage of the campaign was biased in favor of the winner) but not in the third (where coverage was balanced). These findings suggest that control of the media is the most reliable predictor of television?s impact in Latin American elections, rather than the presence of a neopopulist candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]