The banking sector and media ownership: the case of Ecuador

The referendum called by President Rafael Correa in 2011 concludes a complex phase in the history of Ecuador, as it ratified the decision to make unlawful the participation of the banking sector in media ownership. The intense fight between the government and the financial sector started in 1999 when the banking crisis demonstrated the significant presence of bankers in the country’s media. This fight lasted twelve years during which two phases can be identified: 1999 to 2006, a period in which the banking sector, despite its internal crisis -or due to it, as it used newspapers, radio and television to improve its image- expanded its presence in the major media, and 2007 to 2011, a very interesting and unique period during which the political power acted intensively to remove bankers from the media.