Media Companies

The 42 media outlets analyized in this study are owned by 26 different companies, which are the key actors on the Mexican media stage. Half of these companies, such as Grupo América Móvil or Grupo Multimedios, own companies in other sectors of the economy too. These businesses are usually run in a close relationship with the government through agreements and public tenders, which puts the media and the government in a position of conflict of interest.

A exemplary case of this pattern is the one of Grupo Empresarial Ángeles. The owners of this business group are contractors with the federal government in the very lucrative business of the construction of public hospitals. At the same time this group promotes government activities through their media outlets: one free-to-air television channel, two radio stations, one newspaper and several websites.

In other cases, the owners of 14 out of the total of 26 companies maintain, open or secret, family or friendship relationships with powerful politicians. This is the example with the company Compañía Periodística Nacional, owning the daily newspaper El Universal, or with Organización Editorial Mexicana, whose owners are regular guests at the parties of state secretaries and political party leaders.