Friday 03 October 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
HONDURAS:
Government Advertising
Allocation as "Subtle
Censorship"
By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA (IPS)
- Government practices
for allocating official
advertising to the
Honduran media include
reward and punishment
policies, payments to
individual journalists,
and even denial of
access to public
information --
mechanisms that
interfere with freedom
of expression and the
right to information,
according to experts.
The Organisation of
American States (OAS)
Special Rapporteurship
for Freedom of
Expression points to a
form of "subtle
censorship," that uses
elusive, non-traditional
approaches and looks
likely to become the
"censorship of the
future" for journalism,
and a restriction on
citizens' rights of free
speech and information.
A report by the
non-governmental
National Anti-Corruption
Council (CNA) revealed a
host of practices to buy
off and silence people
in the media, that have
been practised by
successive governments
but were particularly
aggravated over the past
two years.
The study, titled "Censura
sutil en Honduras: abuso
de publicidad oficial y
otras formas de censura
indirecta" (Subtle
Censorship in Honduras:
Abuse of Government
Advertising and Other
Forms of Indirect
Censorship), released
last month, seeks to
draw attention to a
problem that has existed
ever since this country
formally returned to
democracy 26 years ago.
Journalist Lucila Funes,
one of the authors of
the report, told IPS
that alongside the
transition to democracy
and the globalisation of
the economy, more subtle
or indirect forms of
censorship have
flourished, such as
favouritism when
purchasing government
advertising space in the
press, selective
granting of radio and
television frequencies,
and controlling the
president's press
conferences.
"There is a whole range
of examples of this type
of censorship that may
be subtle, but are also
open and direct enough
to reflect governments'
intentions to silence
critical and independent
voices among Honduran
journalists," she said.
In her view, one of the
most significant
findings of the study
was the refusal by the
majority of interviewees
to be named. "They were
public officials,
journalists, analysts,
editors, current and
former press
spokespersons, all
arguing that the
relations between the
media and those in
government was a highly
sensitive issue in
Honduras," she said.
According to journalist
and university professor
Juan Ramón Durán, the
study "opens a public
debate on a very old but
secret issue: the
control of the press by
means of rewards and
reprisals, including the
shameful act of paying
journalists."
The study "is not only
of a high professional
standard, but also
addresses issues such as
allocation of radio and
television frequencies
that, although they are
public knowledge, hardly
anyone dares to tackle,
for fear of reprisals,"
he said.
A frequently used method
of paying a sector of
the Honduran press is to
award contracts for
government advertising
to programmes with small
audiences. The country
has no legislation to
regulate such practices.
According to the
government contracting
and procurement office,
the media are exempted
from tendering for
advertising contracts,
which leaves a wide
margin for
discretionality.
IPS obtained access to
an audit of advertising
contracts between the
national child
protection agency (Patronato
Nacional de la Infancia)
and non-existent
journalists and
programmes. The auditors
pointed out to the
authorities that the
agency had spent its
2007 advertising budget
of over 50,000 dollars
in the first six months
of the year, without a
convincing explanation.
The CNA study in
Honduras was carried out
in the context of a
regional project
studying the situation
in seven Latin American
countries which was
coordinated by the
Argentine Association
for Civil Rights and the
U.S.-based Open Society
Justice Initiative.
In Honduras, the levels
of abuse of government
advertising and other
forms of censorship are
"alarming," the study
says.
To get advertising
contracts from the
government of Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya,
good contacts with the
authorities are needed,
as well as acceptance of
certain conditions on
news and information
content, according to
the study.
Government advertising
contracts include
clauses committing
journalists and media to
provide only positive
coverage about the
administration, leaving
criticism aside.
When the president
travels, the government
pays journalists'
expenses on condition
that their coverage
contains no criticism or
controversial aspects.
To be invited on the
president’s tours, one
of the requirements is
to work for large media
outlets that guarantee a
sizeable audience, as
well as being a personal
friend of the
president's secretary.
With the exception of
the national newspapers
El Heraldo and La Prensa,
which pay their
journalists' expenses on
the president's foreign
tours, reporters from
the rest of the press
nearly always join the
entourage at the "kind
invitation" of the
government.
In Honduras there are
four national daily
newspapers, as well as
one monthly and one
weekly magazine, both of
which have limited
circulation.
In addition, the first
on-line publications
have appeared in the
last five years,
including two
newspapers, a
fortnightly publication
and a weekly magazine.
There is heavy
concentration of
ownership of the media,
with the vast majority
of local radio and TV
stations and print
publications owned by
just six families.
Although the owners do
not need government
advertising to survive,
they do depend on the
state and government for
their other enterprises,
such as banking, fast
food restaurants,
pharmaceuticals,
insurance companies, "maquiladoras"
(for-export assembly
plants), coffee
plantations, hardware
stores, importing meat,
ranching and crocodile
farms.
Co-author Funes said
that contracting
government advertising
is done "under the
table," through
discretionary
agreements. "According
to media executives
consulted by the study,
only during electoral
campaigns does
government advertising
become a priority for
the big media."
President Zelaya's first
reaction to the report
on Subtle Censorship in
Honduras was to complain
that he was "being
criticised for
publicising myself. No
one publishes anything
about me. Now they say
we are abusing
advertising, but we are
going to continue paying
because what prevails
here is censorship of my
government by the big
media."
Since he took office two
years ago, the
centre-left Zelaya has
had a tense relationship
with the Honduran press,
which he criticises for
failing to provide
coverage of what his
government is doing.
He has resorted to
nationwide broadcasts,
and created his own
weekly newspaper, radio
programme and, more
recently, TV station, to
counteract what he calls
"disinformation by de
facto power groups."
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