This project compares rebel media use in three Mesoamerican rebellions: the Nicaraguan Revolution, the Salvadoran civil war and the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. The three conflicts were waged under similar conditions over a twenty-year period, but with notably different types of media from which the rebels could choose as the primary focus of their communication strategy. In the three cases, the insurgents utilized a variety of media, but one of those became the official or dominant medium. The project explains how each rebel group used its respective primary communication medium and the possibilities and limitations that the choice offered as well as the demands it made. Directly comparing media use in all three rebellions provides a richer understanding of the role of media in social change, particularly violent change.

Juanita Darling is Assistant Professor of Communications, CSU Monterey Bay.She has coordinated the California State University, Monterey Bay, concentration in Journalism and Media Studies since 2004.  Her two decades as a journalist included covering Latin America for the Los Angeles Times--five years as San Salvador bureau chief and five years as a Mexico City correspondent--before earning a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.