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Argentine
Senate Approves Controversial Media Bill
BUENOS AIRES – After 20 hours of debate, the
Argentine Senate passed a bill that was
backed by President Cristina Fernandez’s
government but rejected by the opposition
and the large media companies.
The media bill, approved in the wee hours of
Saturday by a vote of 44-24, with 68 of the
72 senators in attendance, had been sent to
Congress in late August to reform a law in
place since 1980, when the country was
controlled by a military dictatorship.
While the government hailed the bill’s
passage and said it would diversify and
democratize the airwaves in Argentina, the
opposition and the large media groups
contend that the new law will allow the
Fernandez administration to silence
dissenting voices.
Cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez described the
legislation as “serious, respectful and
approved by consensus,” and said the
Fernandez government has managed to achieve
a reform that had eluded previous
administrations.
“All the presidents since democracy was
restored (in 1983) had submitted bills, but
none could (get one passed). We did,” the
Cabinet chief said.
But Ernesto Sanz, senator of the opposition
Radical Civic Union party, the
second-largest in Congress, said the new
bill will lead to a “flood of lawsuits” and
that, although the government won a victory
for itself, it has left the country with an
“almost impracticable” law.
After the legislation was passed in its
entirety after 14 hours of debate, the
senators spent another six hours going
through and voting on each article of the
bill one-by-one.
It was eventually approved without
modifications, obviating the need for it to
go back to the lower house, which had
earlier passed the bill by a vote of 146-3
after opposition lawmakers walked out in
protest.
Thousands of pro-government demonstrators
who had gathered outside Congress Friday and
were following the debate on a big screen
erupted in applause when the bill received
initial approval.
Lawmakers in the upper house stayed for the
voting, hoping to convince legislators to
change some of the bill’s most controversial
articles.
The opposition objected in particular to one
that it says will create a
government-controlled regulatory body and
another that gives media companies just one
year to sell off many of its assets to
comply with the new law.
Several lawmakers said that companies should
have three years instead of one to sell off
television and radio channels and meet the
ownership limits set by the new legislation.
The bill stipulates that a company cannot
have more than 10 radio and television
licenses, or 14 less than the current limit;
and cannot hold broadcast television and
cable network licenses in the same
metropolitan area.
That latter article was among the most
widely criticized by companies with media
holdings.
Fernandez and her husband and predecessor
Nestor Kirchner, who governed from 2003 to
2007, have had thorny relations with the
media. In recent years, the government has
feuded publicly with the country’s largest
media conglomerate, Grupo Clarin, which owns
print, television, radio and broadband
operations.
Fernandez’s party suffered a crushing
political defeat in congressional elections
earlier this year and blamed negative
coverage by Grupo Clarin-owned outlets for
the losses.
The bill passed both houses of congress two
months before the new Congress – which will
no longer controlled by Fernandez allies –
takes office.
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