26 July 2013
IAPA believes that a bill to regulate the Uruguayan media carries threats to freedom of the press
Miami (July 26, 2013).- On Thursday the 25th, Claudio Paolillo, President of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), attended a hearing held by the Uruguayan Parliament on the proposed bill for the new Audiovisual Communication Services Law.
Miami (July 26, 2013).- On Thursday the 25th, Claudio Paolillo, President of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), attended a hearing held by the Uruguayan Parliament on the proposed bill for the new Audiovisual Communication Services Law.
Speaking in front of Congress, Paolillo highlighted that the bill, which is meant to regulate radio and television, contained articles that guaranteed freedom of expression, but that it also contained elements that threatened the validity of that essential human right. He also pointed out that the creation of a Council for Audiovisual Communication (CAC) made up of officials appointed by the political elite and with the authority to impose self-regulation mechanisms on the media and interfere with their content and editorial policies was contradictory to the spirit of the law.
Paolillo, director of the weekly newspaper Búsqueda, who attended the hearing together with the IAPA Regional Vice President for Uruguay, Washington Beltran, of the newspaper El País, also questioned the designation of information as being of “public service”, and that the media be considered, according to the bill, “strategic for the development of the nation,” as these premises would open the doors to arbitrary government intervention on content meant for distribution.
Read the complete version of Paolillo’s comments (Spanish only) by clicking on the following link: http://www.sipiapa.org/1150146/
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please visit http://www.sipiapa.org.