Fundamedios – Andean Foundation for Media Observation and Study

Journalist Carlos Sosa questioned the officers’ decision saying they had discriminated against Telecosta and other Emeraldas’ media outlets to give preference to national media teams who were allowed to do their work unimpeded.

They requested the provisional suspension of the challenged regulations, arguing that allowing them to come into force would constitute an affront towards the provisions of the Constitution and international treaties concerning human rights currently in force in Ecuador.

“We alert the international community to this attempt to silence Ecuadorian journalists. This sentence is no more than a warning of what can happen to those who dare to investigate and denounce cases of corruption during the exercise of power,” says Fundamedios.

According to the report, the aggressions reached their climax towards the middle of the year, sometimes a bit before or a bit later, due to specific situations such as general elections in Peru or the lawsuit for millions of dollars against the newspaper “El Universo” in Ecuador.

The government broadcast two videos aimed at discrediting journalist Fausto Yépez of Teleamazonas and his investigation into alleged spying operations by government departments.

Hubel and Alcibiades Onofre attribute the threats to a news report that linked a woman accused of being the mastermind behind a triple murder to a member of the national assembly.

The new regulations in the code would come into force on 4 February 2012, introducing preemptive censorship to the contents of the media and journalistic coverage of the upcoming electoral campaign.

The chief of state proposes prohibiting the media from broadcasting during the the 48 hours before the elections and until 5:00 pm on the day itself, “any kind of information issued by public institutions, as well as electoral propaganda, opinions or images.”