(Periodistas/IFEX) – Media organisations and trade unions have expressed their disapproval of a bill that regulates the activity of radio and television announcers. They feel that the bill violates freedom of expression and have criticised it because it assigns duties to announcers that are normally carried out by journalists, thus granting privileges to one sector […]
(Periodistas/IFEX) – Media organisations and trade unions have expressed
their disapproval of a bill that regulates the activity of radio and
television announcers. They feel that the bill violates freedom of
expression and have criticised it because it assigns duties to announcers
that are normally carried out by journalists, thus granting privileges to
one sector while restricting journalists’ functions.
The initiative, which was prepared by the representative of the Partido
Justicialista party, Oscar Sat, was approved by the Legislature on 1
September 1999, and will now be submitted to the Senate for approval.
Article 4.I, paragraph b of the bill establishes that only announcers can
direct or facilitate programmes. Paragraph d states that announcers will
exclusively: “broadcast informative and news bulletins, and related or
isolated news items”, although the bill does note that some isolated news
items could be seen as not falling under this category.
During the last week of September, the Argentinian Press Workers Federation
(Federacion Argentina de Trabajadores de Prensa, FATPREN) and the Buenos
Aires Press Workers Union (Union de Trabajadores de Prensa de Buenos Aires,
UTPBA) warned that if the law is ratified, journalists will be prevented
from performing some of their current duties, such as disseminating news
items.
The Independent Media Business Committee (Comision Empresaria de Medios de
Comunicacion Independiente, CEMCI), the Argentinian Television and Radio
Broadcasters Association (Asociacion de Teleradiodifusoras Argentinas, ATA)
and the Argentinian Private Radio Broadcasters Association (Asociacion de
Radiodifusoras Privadas Argentinas, ARPA) also had a strong negative
reaction to the bill. In CEMCI’s opinion, the bill “is an attack against
basic individual rights and violates the constitutional principles of
freedom of the press and the ability to contract work and be employed
freely.” The International Association of Radio Broadcasting (Asociacion
Internacional de Radiodifusion, AIR) noted that the bill “is a serious
threat against freedom of expression” and sets up an obligatory registration
system that is “discriminatory, and incompatible with Article 13 of the
American Convention on Human Rights.”
Upon examining the bill, the Senate could choose to ratify it as law or
modify it. If the bill is not approved, it will be returned to the
Legislature for further discussion.
