(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – On 5 August 2004, journalist Adolfo Hernández, director of the “No se deje” television programme, broadcast on Channel 66 by the Corporación Maya TV company, in Tegucigalpa, was found guilty of “defamation”. Hernández was accused of having defamed the president of the Honduran Advertisement Agencies’ Association (Asociación de Agencias de Publicidad de Honduras, […]
(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – On 5 August 2004, journalist Adolfo Hernández, director of the “No se deje” television programme, broadcast on Channel 66 by the Corporación Maya TV company, in Tegucigalpa, was found guilty of “defamation”. Hernández was accused of having defamed the president of the Honduran Advertisement Agencies’ Association (Asociación de Agencias de Publicidad de Honduras, APAH) when he questioned the results of an APAH survey.
The punishment for defamation is one to two years in prison. A hearing to establish Hernández’s sentence will be held on 27 August.
Hernández told the Committee for Free Expression (Comité por la Libre Expresión, C-Libre) that the APAH’s survey had put his programme in last place. Hernández claimed that this was not true, saying, “I grabbed the survey, put it in front of the television cameras and said, ‘I am fulfilling my duty to inform our advertisers that false ratings are being published in order to create imbalances in the market (. . .).'”
The plaintiff in the case, APAH President Fernando Mass, said that the journalist “went too far” in his commentary and damaged his image, thereby committing “slander” and “defamation”.
The legal action against Hernández is the third such case in Honduras. The first two complaints were brought against journalist Renato Álvarez (see IFEX alerts of 20 and 6 February and 28 January 2004, 1 October, 20 August, 28 and 3 July 2003).
This alert was prepared by PROBIDAD with information from C-Libre.
