(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is alarmed at the pulling of a political radio programme after the president of the Buenos Aires provincial Chamber of Representatives (Cámara de Diputados), Ismael Passaglia, threatened to cancel the station’s government advertising contracts. The programme in question, “Recorriendo el Espinel” is broadcast by LT24 radio station in San Nicolás and hosted […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is alarmed at the pulling of a political radio programme after the president of the Buenos Aires provincial Chamber of Representatives (Cámara de Diputados), Ismael Passaglia, threatened to cancel the station’s government advertising contracts.
The programme in question, “Recorriendo el Espinel” is broadcast by LT24 radio station in San Nicolás and hosted by journalist Verónica Lassalle. It is the fifth time that the station has pulled a broadcast under political pressure since the beginning of the year.
“The withdrawal of the broadcast presented by Verónica Lassalle on 4 October 2006 constitutes a serious violation of press freedom, all the more worrying because it is not the first of its kind. The explosion of censorship of broadcasts under pressure from locally elected officials, who have neither the competence nor the authority to intervene in an editorial decision, is effectively an attempt to subjugate the broadcast media,” RSF said.
“We urge the federal authorities to intervene to ensure the respect of constitutional rights and freedom of expression and information, and the courts to repair the damage caused to the station,” the organisation added.
Lassalle was told by the radio station director Aldo Remini on 4 October that her programme “Recorriendo el Espinel” was going to be pulled from the station’s programming. The station head gave her to understand that the tone of her programme “upset” certain groups and that keeping it would lose the radio 3,600 euros worth of provincial government advertising. The president of the Chamber has apparently been blackmailing the station for the past three years by threatening to withdraw this amount unless Lassalle was silenced.
“For a year, Passaglia has been making our work difficult and has been withholding information, to our disadvantage. He harasses us because we criticise his government’s management, which we all do in the same way,” the journalist told RSF. She said she regretted that she had not been able to go on air to explain to listeners why the broadcast was pulled. She thanked them on her blog, El Informante. She said she had received other job offers but had not received any expression of solidarity from a single politician.
