Miami (September 10, 2009).—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today issued an open call to the National Congress of Argentina to conduct its controversial debate on a bill for an Audiovisual Communication Services Law “without passion or haste.” Otherwise, the organization warned, it could undermine the very intent of the legislation, which seeks to set new broadcast norms, and would violate press freedom and the public’s right to receive diverse and multi-sourced information.
On August 27 President Cristina Kirchner sent Congress a broadcast bill that has sparked wide debate among the public and government and opposition lawmakers who differ on both the content of the proposed legislation and the procedure for its adoption. The initiative would replace the current law dating from the days of the military dictatorship.
Since the bill was unveiled by Kirchner in March this year the IAPA has noted its concern that many of the arguments used could be linked to “retaliatory attitudes” and criticism by the federal government of independent news media, which former president Néstor Kirchner, Christina’s husband, has repeatedly made publicly about the Clarín Group, one of the South American country’s leading media conglomerates, as well as in campaigns to discredit Clarin and other communication companies.
IAPA President Enrique Santos Calderón expressed concern that “that such an important piece of legislation for Argentina's democracy and broadcast regulation might end up being politicized goes against the objectives that should guide the discussion.”
Santos Calderón, editor of the Bogotá, Colombia, newspaper El Tiempo, added, “What is needed is to guarantee diversity and plurality and to regulate broadcasting, but that does not imply creating an all-pervasive state that could use the law for its own ends by granting licenses in an arbitrary manner to reward and punish, penalizing at its own discretion or creating a state media monopoly.”
In its plea for a full parliamentary debate without “haste or passion” the IAPA also requested that press organizations, news media, civil groups and intermediaries across the nation be involved without discrimination.
The controversy over the bill centers on numerous points that are considered harmful to the free flow of ideas and that could even shape the editorial policies and content of privately-owned media. In particular, the law would ban a company from owning both on-air and cable channels, forcing them to sell one or the other within a year whether or not they had received a 10-year renewal of broadcast licenses provided for under the current law. Additional items of concern are the discrimination in access by the print media to licenses for audiovisual media, the creation of a regulatory agency that is not independent of government and could become a tool for political ends, and mandatory review of licenses every two years in what is seen as an excessive measure that could become a means to induce self-censorship.
In another development, the IAPA joined forces with Argentine press organizations, such as the Association of Argentine Press Entities (ADEPA), in declaring that “unrestricted access of the people to sources of information and the maintenance of privately-owned communication media are fundamental pillars of democracy and as such must be preserved within any legal framework.”
