The media and the institutionalization of the party system.

A compared analysis in Latin America

Abstract

The goal of this article is describe the relationship between the level of institutionalization of party systems and the citizen trust in the media as intermediaries of political message in 18 countries in Latin America The comparative methodology is based on data from the Americas Barometer 2012 (Latin-American Public Opinion Project) and the Index of Party System Institutionalization of Jones (2005). There's a dialogue with respect to classical theoretical frameworks for understanding political Communications, cause we draw an association between trust in the media and the level of party system institutionalization. However, the role that the theory ascribes to the media as a facilitator of the political message among the public and parties, it holds only if the public perceives that the political actors hear their demands.