CHILE

CHILE WHEREAS the government has amended its original press freedom bill which is currently being debated in the legislature this amendment would give preference to university graduates among those seeking to work as journalists and that such a change, as was the case with the previous proposal which would have made the possession of a university degree essential to practice this profession, is contrary to the Inter-American Declaration on Human Rights non-graduates working as journalists would be required to be listed in a public registry to be set up for this purpose other provisions of concern, such as the so-called conscience clause, remain on the law books the bill under consideration in its present form is contrary to freedom of information, the InterAmerican Declaration on Human Rights and the Declaration of Santiago adopted in Santiago, Chile, at a UNESCO seminar in May, in which representatives of the most diverse sectors and institutions of the Latin American press participated THE 50TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE lAPA RESOLVES to protest the proposal concerning qualifications to be a journalist, which if it were to become law would be a serious threat to freedom of expression, and to ask President Frei to withdraw it to ask the National Congress, in considering the overall press freedom bill, to reject any provision that would hinder the free practice of journalism to ask the National Congress, if and when it studies and votes on the bill, to reject those many proposed regulations that would stand in the way of the free practice of journalism.