Muy buenas noches

“For most of its eighty-plus years, the media behemoth known today as Televisa, long the de facto propaganda arm of the Mexican state, has been all but hermetically sealed against inspection by researchers. Few have interviewed its executives, let alone probed its archives. That Celeste González de Bustamante has accessed two decades’ worth of broadcast news scripts is a feat of scholarly gumption and tenacity. Her resulting book offers a fascinating and unprecedentedly detailed account of news dissemination between 1950 and 1970 by the most influential television company in the Spanish- speaking world.”—Andrew Paxman, Hispanic American Historical Review

“As the party that governed Mexico for seventy years returns to power amid protests over collusion between the media and politicians, Celeste González de Bustamante has published a timely examination of just how much influence television has. Based on five case studies and rare access to the archives of Latin America’s most influential television empire, Televisa, the study offers far more than its title promises. . . . The study also adds important insights to the rich literature on national identity formation. Muy Buenas Noches is a significant contribution that will add to the scholarly discussion in a variety of disciplines and fields.”—Juanita Darling, American Journalism

“Each chapter’s consistent grounding in the larger arc of Mexican and international history makes Muy Buenas Noches an easily digestible book, even for those with little previous knowledge of the country. Undoubtedly, Muy Buenas Noches will stand as a central text for future researchers intrigued by the questions González de Bustamante raises, as well as those searching for the historical roots of the country’s current media climate.”—Taylor Jardno, NACLA Report on the Americas

 

 

“One of the strengths of González’s book lays in her ability to paint a vivid picture of the behind-the-scenes machinations that defined the relationship between Telesistema Mexicano and the Mexican government. . . .  Celeste González de Bustamante has produced an outstanding account of the first two decades of Mexican television news. Her illumination of the tensions that infused the connections between Telesistema Mexicano, the PRI, Mexican viewers, and the United States during the Cold War succeeds in underscoring the limits of cultural hegemony. In the process, this well written and solidly researched monograph will be of interest to both scholars and students of modern Mexico, media studies, and the Cold War.”—Michael A. Krysko, A Contra corriente