Ecuador

ECUADOR The government continues to keep watch over the press with the threat of applying coercive laws. The president made an appeal to the press for “balance in news services,” and during the Indian protests in January and February it demanded that “yellow journalism” be stopped. Later, the National Council of Radio and Television Broadcasting asked the media to stop transmitting news “based on suppositions.” The agency said that ignoring the law would trigger “the established sanctions,” which could be as severe as the closure of a radio station or television channel. The following is a chronology of the most important events affecting press freedom: In January, the official in charge of the ship Jessica, which had run aground in the Galapagos Islands causing an oil spill, prohibited the captain and members of the crew from meeting with journalists. On January 29, 2001, during anti-government demonstrations, the government urged “editors and publishers of the media to observe balance in the news… especially to stop harmful practices such as yellow journalism and sensationalism, which obstruct maintenance of order.” On January 31, the government’s National Council of Radio and Television Broadcasting asked the media not to broadcast news based on suppositions that could cause social upheaval, under pain of sanctions that could go as far as closure of a media outlet. On February 9, following the response of the media and associations of newspapers, radio and television stations, the government clarified that it did not intend to “warn” the media nor “tell them how to do their work” in its earlier statements. It emphasized that they were just an “exhortation.” At several times during the protests Indians and farmers threatened to tear down radio and television transmission towers. Supporters of the movement took over areas surrounding these towers. On August 18, 2000, the Law for the Promotion of Investment and Citizen Participation was enacted. In Article 21, it says: “When concession of a service gives it a dominant position in the market, its operator cannot be the owner, on his own or through third parties, of media outlets or financial institutions. Each of these activities must be carried out only by its administrators or owners.” Professional associations insist on proposing a new law to regulate journalism, which would restrict press freedom even more. The bill includes, among other provisions, obligatory licensing which states that certain functions are reserved for licensed journalists. It also states that there will be mandatory application of an ethics code written by the National Journalists Federation and that a journalist could lose his license for violating the code. Other laws and rules threaten freedom of expression, such as Article 230 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which says that threats or libel against the president or whoever is fulfilling the executive function can be punished for contempt. The regulation preventing foreigners from owning more than 25% of Ecuadorean media outlets continues in force.