(IPYS/IFEX) – According to IPYS, Carlos Caldas Pozo, a journalist and host of the programme “La Alternativa”, (broadcast by Radio Exito FM from Monday to Friday between 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m., local time), had his radio program abruptly shut down on 9 January 1999. During the airing of a news item about a labourer […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – According to IPYS, Carlos Caldas Pozo, a journalist and host
of the programme “La Alternativa”, (broadcast by Radio Exito FM from Monday
to Friday between 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m., local time), had his radio
program abruptly shut down on 9 January 1999. During the airing of a news
item about a labourer who had issued a complaint against contruction company
owner Ítalo Valle Pachas, who appropriated his wages by forcing him to sign
blank receipts, the station owner ordered that the broadcast be cut off.
In an interview with IPYS, Caldas Pozo explained that previously, on 4
January 1999, while he was announcing the upcoming radio interview with the
labourer, Crescencio Puza Escajadillo, he received a telephone call from the
station
manager, Gaston Medina Sotomayor. Medina told him to refrain from
criticising or broadcasting any information against Valle (who is both
nephew and advisor to provincial mayor-elect Oscar Sánchez Dulanto).
Furthermore, Valle had purchased four hours of air time in order to
broadcast two “independent newscasts” (“Éxito Noticias”, from 7:00 to 9:00
a.m., and “La Razon”, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.), and had offered to finance
the television station that Medina wished to open.
It was approximately 2:45 p.m. (local time) on 9 January when radio operator
Marcelo Roca took the cassette containing the interview with labourer Puza
Escajadillo off the air, replacing it with music. Roca later explained that
he acted on intructions from station manager and owner Medina, who had
called him up, and in an agitated an insulting manner, told him to
“immediately remove that cassette and put on music.”
The Regional Association of Journalists of Ica – Liberators – Huari, has
issued a press release in protest and in solidarity with “La Alternativa”,
and condemning the action taken against it. In addition, nineteen
journalists from Ica have sent a letter of protest
and solidarity in reaction to the closing down of the program.
It is important to note that, as is the case with many radio stations in
Peru’s interior, Radio Éxito sells its airtime to individuals, without
taking responsiblity for its content. IPYS has spoken to the owner of the
radio station, who told them that this case was strictly business, stemming
from the fact that Caldas had not paid for his airtime. However, IPYS
brought to his attention the fact that the program had been taken off the
air brusquely, in the middle of a broadcast. It should also be noted that
this is not the first case recorded by IPYS in which the interests of a
station owner have collided with the content of a given programme, following
which the owner has opted to cancel the programme.
