Miami (November 4, 2009)–The broadcast law passed recently in Argentina and proposed communication legislation under debate in Ecuador will be the main focus of discussions this Friday when 500 editors and publishers from throughout the Americas begin debates at the Inter American Press Association's (IAPA) General Assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
During its biannual review of press freedom the IAPA will take a close look at government tools that signify censorship of the press' work and interference in editorial content. Among these is discrimination in the placement of official advertising (e.g. Aruba, Venezuela); restrictions on electoral propaganda (e.g. Colombia); limits on access to public information (e.g. Bolivia); plans to control content (e.g. El Salvador, Uruguay), and judicial rulings that impose prior censorship (e.g. Brazil).
The press as a favorite target of authoritarian governments, which accuse it of instigating destabilization to justify their own violations, will be featured on the General Assembly’s program along with a panel discussion devoted to the trends in Latin American case law that bear on the region's trampled press freedom.
On Sunday, Argentina’s new A/V Communications Law will be analyzed as a tool to exert pressure on media ownership; another panel will focus on its creation of a supra-governmental agency to execute the law, as well as address issues of the law's unconstitutionality.
In Ecuador, a proposed Communication Law would create an agency with the power to levy fines not only on broadcast media but also on newspapers, requiring them to register each year, have codes of ethical conduct and hire ombudsmen.
Access to public information is another focus of discussion due to the fact that legislative bills are stalled in countries such as El Salvador and Bolivia and that a law in Chile is poorly applied.
Discussion will also center on two bills before the Canadian Parliament that require telecommunications companies to modernize their technology to improve surveillance capabilities and provide subsequent documents requested by authorities for reasons of national security. In the United States, the IAPA will look at the delay by the Senate in passing a federal law on protection of news sources that the lower house passed two years ago.
Other noteworthy features include a review of new developments surrounding modern technology such as the first case of a person convicted for a message he sent on Twitter in Guatemala and the first conviction in Uruguay based on an Internet posting. Online themes and where they stand with regards to freedom of expression and ethics will be the focus of a panel discussion scheduled for Sunday.
IAPA will also review various forms of control that through laws, decrees or court rulings are being imposed on the news media in countries such as El Salvador, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as the suspension of constitutional guarantees ordered in Honduras following the overthrow of the government on June 28.