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Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 10 - 10 - 2009


Argentina's Senate
overwhelmingly approved a law that will transform the
nation's media landscape on Saturday, and President
Cristina Fernandez quickly signed it into law, according to AP.
Senators voted by a surprisingly high 44-24 margin for the
law, celebrating the end of dictatorship-era rules that
enabled a few companies to dominate Argentine media.
Opponents say it instead gives the government too much
power and will curtail freedom of speech.
The new law preserves two-thirds of the radio and TV
spectrum for noncommercial stations, and requires channels
to use more Argentine content. It also forces Grupo Clarin,
the country's leading media company, to sell off many of
its properties.
«The initiative is moderate and democratic,» said Sen.
Miguel Angel Pichetto, a ruling party leader, during nearly
20 hours of uninterrupted debate that ended Saturday
morning. «It allows for companies to have an adequate
position, but not a dominant one.»
Opponents say the new law simply replaces a media
oligopoly with a state monopoly _ and will enable investors
with close ties to the president and her husband, former
president Nestor Kirchner, to snap up media properties at
low prices in forced sales.
Outside Congress, thousands of supporters celebrated in
the plaza with chants, applause, fireworks and booming
drums. The demonstration was organized by government
supporters and included political activist Maximo Kirchner,
son of the first couple.
Ruling party Sen. Liliana Fellner said the law does away
with a vestige of Argentina's 1976-83 military
dictatorship.
«We are settling an old debt with democracy,» she said.
The commission applying new regulations and granting (or
canceling) radio and television licenses will have seven
members, include two designated by the executive branch,
three by Congress and two by a federal body representing
provincial governments. This should ensure ruling party
control, which opponents fear will be used to threaten and
censure critics.
Most affected is Grupo Clarin, one of Latin America's
leading media companies. Within one year, it must sell off
radio stations, television channels and part of its
dominant cable TV network to comply with new ownership
limits.
«The government is going after the media with all its
remaining power,» Clarin Editor Ricardo Roa wrote
Saturday. «It has rushed through a misleading law that
seems to be progressive but in reality only sets us back:
it will promote a press that is weaker and more docile.»
The lopsided Senate vote makes it unlikely the law will be
overturned when Fernandez loses supporters in a new
Congress, starting Dec. 10. A two-thirds majority in needed
to overcome her veto.
The new law imposes more frequent licensing approvals, and
requires that at least 70 percent of radio content and 60
percent of television content be produced in Argentina. It
also requires cable TV companies to carry channels operated
by universities, unions, indigenous groups and other
non-governmental organizations.
Clarin and other media companies will now go to the
courts, saying the new limits violate constitutional
property protections. Cabinet Chief Anibel Fernandez said
Saturday that «this is the right of any citizen.»


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