Government Advertising

GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING Resolution of the Midyear Meeting Caracas, Venezuela March 28 - 30, 2008 WHEREAS there continue to be reports of discrimination in the placement of government advertising in media outlets in Argentina, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela; WHEREAS the Stabroek News in Guyana has criticized the administration and seen its government advertising gradually withdrawn, to the point where some 29 government ministries, agencies, and other entities, as well as the armed forces and police departments, are no longer advertising in it; WHEREAS discrimination in the placement of government advertising represents a violation of press freedom, because it is often used to punish media outlets that adopt a critical stance; WHEREAS the Argentine Supreme Court ruled in September 2007 that the Neuquén provincial government may not discriminate against media outlets by arbitrarily withdrawing or reducing the advertising that it places in them; and the provincial government of Tierra del Fuego issued a decree regulating the placement of government advertising in the province; WHEREAS Principle 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “Tariff and exchange policies, licenses for the importation of paper or news-gathering equipment, the assigning of radio and television frequencies and the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists”; THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to condemn discrimination in the placement of government advertising as a means of punishing or rewarding media outlets to urge the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela to adopt a fair system of allocation of advertising space; to salute the provincial government of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, for its initiative to provide for the equitable placement of government advertising, and to urge that the criteria for allocating advertising space be reviewed and clarified.