See
http://www.deepdishwavesofchange.blogspot.com
for several posts about this historic legislation.
xx
dd
From IPS:
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 12 (IPS) - While civil society groups celebrated
Argentina's new broadcasting law, media giants threatened to fight it
with a wave of lawsuits, and opposition lawmakers pledged to revise
it after the next Congress convenes in December. In the new
legislature, the result of June elections in which President Cristina
Fernández's supporters lost their majority, the opposition will try
to amend or overturn the law, which was approved by the Senate in a
44-24 vote early Saturday morning, after a nearly 20-hour debate. The
president signed it into law later that day.
The bill, which stirred up a major controversy in Argentina, brought
the centre-left Fernández into conflict with the leading media
groups, as it curbs the concentration of media ownership. A broad
network of social organisations, which had long been demanding a new
media law to replace the one in effect since the 1976-1983 military
dictatorship, loudly applauded the passage of the bill without
modifications
United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and
Expression Frank La Rue said the new law set "an example for other
countries" by guaranteeing access to the media by all segments of
society. The new law represents "a stride forward in Latin America
against the increasing concentration of media ownership," he said.
A number of prominent academics and human rights activists threw
their support behind the law. Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Pérez
Esquivel told IPS before the Senate vote that approval of the new law
was essential. "We cannot continue to have a dictatorship-era law,
created by (dictator Jorge Rafael) Videla," said the activist, who is
often critical of the Fernández administration.
"There is resistance because this law affects the interests of big
corporations like Grupo Clarín, which waged a major campaign against
its passage. But this is not a 'K law'," said Pérez Esquivel. The TN
cable news station owned by Grupo Clarín, Argentina's biggest media
conglomerate, dubbed the bill the "K law" – for former president
Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), Fernández's predecessor and husband.
"They have tried to depict this bill as a government law, but social
organisations have been working for a democratic media law for the
past 25 years," said Pérez Esquivel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in
1980 for his efforts in the defence of human rights during the de
facto military regime.
Senator Ernesto Sanz, leader of the main opposition bloc, the Radical
Civic Union (UCR), said that his party backed over 100 of the 166
articles of the law. But no agreement was reached on amendments to
the other clauses, and the law was passed without modifications.
Grupo Clarín - which owns more than 250 newspapers, radio stations,
TV channels and cable stations - and other large media companies
fought the new law tooth and nail, and the political opposition
echoed their complaints that the new legislation would give Fernández
and Kirchner greater influence over the media.
"Kirchner Now Has Law Granting Control over Media" was the front page
headline in Clarín, the country's leading newspaper, on Saturday.
Senator Sanz said the law is "bad" because it will unleash a flood of
lawsuits by companies that will be affected by the change of
broadcasting rules, although he added that it could be modified by
the new Congress.
Since the return to democracy in 1983, civil society had been
demanding new legislation to replace a dictatorship-era law under
which a handful of companies have immense power over the media.
Hundreds of human rights groups, community radio stations,
universities and other civil society bodies joined together in the
"Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting" to advocate a new law that
would contain 21 specific points guaranteeing the right to
communication and information. "This law was our project," the
Coalition's coordinator, Néstor Busso, told IPS.
Thousands of members of the Coalition and of political parties, trade
unions and student groups gathered outside of Congress Friday to
express their support for the new law as the Senate debated, and
celebrated when it passed.
The stated aim of the new legislation is to fight the concentration
of media ownership by limiting the number of broadcasting licenses in
the hands of media giants. It describes communication as a "public
service" and will diversify the airwaves by reserving one-third of
licenses each for non-profit organisations, state broadcasters and
private companies.
In addition, it stipulates that at least 70 percent of radio content
and 60 percent of television programming must be produced in
Argentina, while requiring that cable TV stations carry channels run
by trade unions, universities, indigenous groups and other social
organisations.
In the lower house of Congress, the ruling party agreed to 200
modifications of the bill, which brought left-wing parties on board.
The draft law made it through the lower house in September with a
vote of 146-three, with three abstentions, as the opposition
boycotted the vote. In the Senate, the biggest controversy was over
allegations that the new law expanded government control over the
media, even though executive branch influence was limited thanks to
lobbying by leftist parties in the lower house, which increased the
participation by not-for-profit organisations.
The new regulatory and licensing body that will replace the federal
commission created by the dictatorship and controlled by the
government of the day will have seven members: two designated by the
executive branch, three elected by Congress and two named by a
federal body made up of experts.
The one-year deadline for companies to shed broadcasting licenses
over the limit also drew fire, with the opposition arguing that the
firms will be forced to sell at unreasonably low prices, and that the
licenses could be picked up by government cronies at bargain prices.
In a column published by the Perfil newspaper, Professor Eliseo Verón
wrote that "deep-down, the fierce struggle for a new media law is a
huge effort on the part of the government to recuperate power, aimed
at stripping its enemies of certain media businesses to hand them
over to its friends."
|