Abstract
Historical evidence reveals that the definition of Latino mass media is a fragile but useful way to examine how cultural identity is forged through economic and industrial practices. Focusing on the development of Latino media and their political economy in San Antonio, Texas, the researcher describes four constructions of Latino producers and audiences: segmentation, massification, pan-ethnicity, and fragmentation. These constructions demonstrate that these media were sites for Latinos to define themselves as producers and audiences within the structural constraints of race and class in two nations, Mexico and the United States. The paper concludes the coexistence of these constructions today could be interpreted as positive signs of growing multiculturalism or negative effects of global trends that divide Latinos by class.
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