(IPYS/IFEX) – Television stations that wanted to broadcast a presidential message on 21 May 2002 had to air the entire broadcast “without interruption”. If a television station did not comply with the directive, the technical department of Television Nacional de Chile (Chilean National Television, TVN) was authorised by the Secretariat of Communications and Culture (Secretaría […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Television stations that wanted to broadcast a presidential message on 21 May 2002 had to air the entire broadcast “without interruption”. If a television station did not comply with the directive, the technical department of Television Nacional de Chile (Chilean National Television, TVN) was authorised by the Secretariat of Communications and Culture (Secretaría de Comunicacion y Cultura, SECOCU) to suspend the television station’s broadcasting signal, “El Mostrador”, an online newspaper (www.elmostrador.cl), reported in its 24 May edition.
The website published the letter sent by Telefonica Chile to the technical directors of all the television stations. The letter detailed specific conditions that were to be followed during the transmission of the presidential address. The conditions were delivered by TVN on behalf of SECOCU. Telefonica Chile is the company responsible for transmitting TVN broadcast signals to the other television stations that agreed to air the presidential address.
According to the conditions outlined in the letter, “television stations that request the broadcast will be authorised to use the official TVN event broadcast signal transmitted by Telefonica as long as it is broadcast in its entirety and without interruption. If a station fails to meet these conditions, TVN’s technical department has ordered Telefonica to suspend the delivery of the signal”.
TVN Assistant Production Manager Marcos Salazar told “El Mostrador” that, “TVN’s mission is to televise presidential addresses and make them available to media who are Telefonica subscribers. However, the order to interrupt the broadcast is SECOCU’s prerogative exclusively.”
SECOCU Director Javier Luiz Egaña told “El Mostrador” that in order to create national radio and television networks, “TVN is appointed as the head of a hierarchical network to provide television and radio broadcast signals to whoever requests them.” Egaña denied that SECOCU would deliver an order that could be construed as censuring a television station. However, he acknowledged that the letter sent to the technical departments made it clear that the broadcasting of the presidential message could not be interrupted.
In practice, this meant that television stations were not able to broadcast the disturbances and protests that occurred at the National Congress while President Ricardo Lagos delivered his public address.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the SECOCU director:
– protesting the hierarchical broadcast policies applied to radio and television stations
Appeals To
Javier Luis Egaña
SECOCU Director
Ministry of the Interior
Tel: +56 2 6904113
Fax: + 56 2 6970605
Please copy appeals to source if possible.
