(IPYS/IFEX) – As of 10 June 2002, President Ricardo Lagos’ administration imposed a new communication strategy that restricts the press’ ability to cover certain presidential activities. The new restriction was communicated to the media via a letter written by Presidential Press Secretary Pablo Orozco. The letter came from the press office located in La Moneda […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – As of 10 June 2002, President Ricardo Lagos’ administration imposed a new communication strategy that restricts the press’ ability to cover certain presidential activities. The new restriction was communicated to the media via a letter written by Presidential Press Secretary Pablo Orozco. The letter came from the press office located in La Moneda (the presidential palace).
Prior to the imposition of the new restrictions, presidential visits to neighbourhoods, factories, hospitals and schools were made public by La Moneda and were widely covered by the media. Effective immediately, the media will receive information about the presidents’ activities with little advance notice and will have to choose which journalists will be allowed to cover an event.
Orozco’s letter stated, “La Moneda Journalists’ Association has been asked to use a transparent lottery-based system in which all interested journalists submit their names to a pool.” The release noted that, “the idea is that journalists will form one television crew, one radio crew and one press crew, and that these crews will in turn share the information [gathered while covering an event] with the rest of their colleagues [who were not able to cover the event first-hand].
According to the president’s press office, the decision to restrict media coverage of presidential activities aims to “establish a more direct relationship with the peopleâ¦, listen to neighbours who have been adversely or positively affected, who are otherwise unable to communicate directly with the president⦔
Journalists accredited with La Moneda reject the new government policy and have made this clear to Orozco. In a press release, the La Moneda Journalists’ Association stated that the new government strategy “hinders free expression, guaranteed in a recent press law passed by Lagos’ administration.”
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– protesting the new restrictions on the press
Appeals To
Ricardo Lagos Escobar
President
Fax: +56 2 690 40 20
Pablo Orozco
Presidential Press Secretary
Fax: +56 2 690 41 38
E-mail: porozco@presidencia.cl
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
