Chile

Several legal initiatives are underway that could make the work of the media more difficult. Most important was the approval in January of the Freedom of Information Law, which was enacted in August. A ruling by the Constitutional Court that a reference to the Central Bank was unconstitutional and approving criteria concerning the Public Ministry, the Constitutional Court and the Elections Court was attached to the law with certain requirements. The new system requires the establishment of a Transparency Council, a specialized and highly technical agency. According to a transitional article, the law shall take effect in April 2009, eight months after its publication. However, the members of the council must be appointed 60 days after the publication. The president has nominated four distinguished lawyers, and the Senate is to vote on whether to approve them. The Special Committee on the Media in the Chamber of Deputies reported its conclusions after a year of work. The following are some of the conclusions and proposals that directly concern the written media: 1. To establish regulation of the media market to avoid both horizontal and vertical economic and ownership concentration. 2. To institute a transparent and objective system of subsidies, focusing on setting up and supporting new media outlets to ensure pluralism, diversity and the expression of regional and local identities. 3. With respect to advertising, to require that each advertiser distribute a specific amount to the more vulnerable media outlets. 4. To improve regulation of journalistic practice to guarantee its professionalism, freedom of opinion and work, especially in investigative projects. 5. To promote a national debate about the validity of audience and circulation criteria so they do not affect the quality of the media. All these points, and especially the first which is a recurring issue in Chilean politics, and which ignores the real situation of the media, could lead to new legal initiatives, as many political groups hope. In fact, the proposal to improve journalists’ professional quality led to a bill called the Journalists Law, sponsored by legislators from a variety of political sectors. Since several of its provisions would modify the Labor Code, it was sent to the Labor Committee. On July 4, 2007, at the request of the Special Committee on the Media, the chamber agreed to send it the bill. So far several people linked to the news business have testified to the committee and their testimony has revealed technical defects in the bill, including possibly unconstitutional provisions. Apparently the government intends to salvage some aspects, such as one concerning journalists’ insurance. On the other hand, nine legislators from various parties sponsored a bill on July 10, 2008, to punish slander of members of the Carabineros de Chile, the national police force. The bill was sent to the lower chamber’s Defense Committee for study. The committee approved the initial report on September 3. The law would set prison sentences of 61 to 563 days and fines of approximately 100,000 pesos ($200 U.S.) for anyone who insults police officers. It is important to note that several years ago the crime of desacato, or contempt, that is protection of the good name and privacy of public officials, was eliminated in one of the measures adopted to guarantee press freedom in Chile. This bill therefore, is an anachronistic attempt to reestablish the crime of desacato in our country.