The new media

On Thursday morning I attended the symposium on Ethnic media in Latin American countries. The presentation was held by Juan F. Salazar (originally from Chile) who is a professor in Sydney, Australia. He didn't really seem to hold an argument but rather an enlightenment on how the indigenous people of Chile (the non-white Latin Americans) have begun to grab a voice in media. The leading media for indigenous people in this country is called " Mapuche". The Mapuche Press is an alternative voice that can be heard on the Internet, but it is mainly for the indigenous Mapuche people who live in Chile and Argentina. The Mapuche media deals with the concerns of the Mapuche people. (e.g. how they deal with the urbanization of their culture into the mainstream world, or how they deal with environmental issues). What Salazar did to show the new influence of the Mapuche was filming a documentary about the people. First off, Salazar stopped reading the common Chilean Press for four straight years. He only looked at Mapuche media to try and understand them. By doing this, Salazar said he was able to a whole new perspective of his country through the eyes of an Alternative media source. His film was a documentary that has gone on to several film festivals. The Mapuche people who have seen his film were surprised to find out that he is a "white Latin American" and not really an "indigenous" person of the country. This shows the influence of Mapuche and how the media can shape our views based on how we read it and let it into our lives