Press freedom has been affected by two important developments: a physical attack on the offices of the dailies Expreso and Extra in Guayaquil and an amendment to the Election Financing Law that regulates the placement of advertising paid by the government for presidential candidates campaigns.
An August 13 there were two attacks on the buildings of Gráficos Nacionales, publisher of the dailies Expreso and Extra. At about 11 p.m. four shots were fired at the main building, breaking a large window in the office that accepts advertising and the lighted sign on the front of the building. Five minutes later, other bullets hit the windows of the advertising agency in the northern part of Guayaquil.
On November 4, 2005, there was another attack on the main building early in the morning. All of the attacks were by unidentified people. The attacks were reported to the prosecutors office, but so far there have been no results.
On March 31, the National Congress approved an amendment to the Election Financing Law that would give presidential candidates advertising time on private television channels charged to the air time provided to the government by law.
The amendment was approved although media associations had rejected it. But it was clarified that the advertising space would be paid from the governments general budget.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which is charged with enforcing the amendment, drafted the regulations on distributing space for political advertising with percentages allotted to the various types of media (70 percent to television, 20 percent to radio and 10 percent to the written press). The media associations questioned the criteria for these percentages.
The Electoral Tribunal established the spaces to be paid for by the general budget for presidential campaigns: the written press should provide a 24 x 30 centimeter page for each candidate in a 16-page supplement; radio stations should provide four two-minute programs for each candidate; and television channels should provide the same. The rules did not define what criteria should be used to select the media outlets.
On April 30, during a soccer match between Barcelona and Emelec in Guayaquil, 11 broadcast booths were destroyed by fans in a violent act of vandalism that endangered the lives of the journalists who were there.
On May 15, the daily El Universo filed a freedom of information request to the National Congress since it had not responded to the newspapers request for information about the Congresss expenses and administrative matters. The Law of Transparency requires that this information be provided on its Internet page.
A civil court judge in Pichincha denied the request and the newspaper appealed the ruling. On August 9, the Constitutional Court overruled the judges decision and accepted the freedom of information request, requiring Congress to provide the information. This was done on September 8.
On June 29, the Supreme Court justices refused to ask the prosecutors office to investigate Emilio Palacio Urritia, editorial writer of the daily El Universo, for reporting on possible corruption in the judiciary.
On August 15, Eduardo Molina and Cristian Vera, cameraman and assistant of Canal Uno, respectively, were detained by the National Police, which prevented Molina from questioning a police officer about an alleged attack against a woman who was protesting problems with the new transit system in Guayaquil.
On September 11, supporters of the Social Christian Party (Partido Social Cristiano) prevented Carlos Garcia of El Diario de Manabí from taking pictures when they interrupted a session of the city government of Portoviejo to hand out political propaganda. They terrorized him, implying that they would take away his camera if he took pictures.
On August 14, Humberto Guillén, a candidate for the legislature, threatened and insulted a journalist of the daily La Hora Manabita, who asked him about disputes within his political party during an interview at his home.
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