Católicos catódicos

apuntes para el estudio de la relación entre religión, sociedad y Estado en las primeras décadas de la televisión argentina

Abstract

This work reconstructs the interwoven of catholicism and television in the first decades of the medium in Argentina. The aim is to analyze the relationship of the catholic world with the State and the television entrepreneurs, as well as the role played by laics and clerics in television screen, in the creation of instances of consecration, and on moral watchdog of the medium.

The hypothesis argues that clergy and lay people who had already been participated in other media experiences of catholic communication considered television as a new mediated public space. This should be conquered by religion, following the logic of Catholic fundamentalism. At the same time, debates of the times about the catholic world and secular modernity framed the effort of clerics and lays to understand and adapt to institutional logics of other television pioneers countries, notably the United States of America.

In order to reconstruct the experience, we collected information from priest Hector Grandinetti's memories, religion and show business magazines, and the personal archive of journalist Horacio Carballal.