About the "Latin American coverage of the German press"

Regina Cazzamatta's dissertation project aimed to examine the structure and conditions of origin of Latin American reporting in the German press with regard to a current political order. How is Latin America currently presented in the German press? Is the region still associated with civil war, attempted coups, guerrilla movements, election rigging and debt crises? Has Latin America's image as the "backyard of the USA" been replaced? Is the reporting still concentrated on a few countries or Brazil, Chile and Argentina as Wöhlcke stated in the 1970s? Did the change in the continent's politics and economy have an influence, although not necessarily in terms of quantity, on the reporting? Are the countries within the continent portrayed evenly or are there country characteristics that increase their news factors? Are great heterogeneity, cultural diversity and different geographical, economic, political and social conditions of the countries taken into account in the reporting? Have the news factors for Latin America identified in previous research remained stable? Which factors and characteristics are currently the most common in news coverage?

To answer these questions, Regina Cazzamatta has developed a multi-method design for her work that combines quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The author thus fills a research gap in a topic that is extremely relevant to foreign policy. Her book looks at topics and characteristics of media discourse in a combined form, shows country profiles and seeks theoretical explanations for the image constructions within reporting. With the result that the image of Latin America does not exist in the German press, but rather a perception can be differentiated according to countries and country groups.