WHEREAS the government in 2011 enacted a General Telecommunications Law that decrees a new distribution of the radio spectrum and reduces the participation of commercial radio stations to 33% and reserves the other 67% for the state, inter-cultural communities and indigenous peoples, while hundreds of radio stations confront the government bureaucracy seeking the renewal of their licenses, under threat of their being silenced
WHEREAS the government and some social organizations politically aligned to it following the adverse results of the February 21, 2016 referendum for amendment of an article of the Constitution seek to propose a control and regulation of social media in the country
WHEREAS the government has not yet lifted barriers to access to information of pubic interest
WHEREAS the government is maintaining pressure on independent print and audiovisual media for them to publish in an obligatory and free manner campaigns and messages favorable to its plans
WHEREAS Principle 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: "Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press"
THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
to ask the government to repeal and/or amend the law that threatens the functioning of hundreds of radio stations and the subsequent loss of more than 2,500 sources of work by imposing the sale of frequencies together with new distribution of the radio spectrum
to ask the government not to violate the right to communication and information enshrined in Article 106 of the Constitution, putting to one side the anti-democratic proposals to control and regulate social media
to ask the Parliament to pass the Law on Transparency and Access to Information for awareness of certain matters of public interest
to ask the government to suspend the free and obligatory publication of its campaigns and messages in independent news media because these are burdensome for their deteriorating finances.
