The report of the first debate must await the return of the Assembly next January for its treatment in plenary session.
The delegates of Correísmo and Pachakutik before the International Relations Commission of the National Assembly opposed the approval of the report of the draft Law for the Guarantee, Promotion and Protection of Freedom of the Press, Opinion, Expression and Communication , which moves away from punitive concepts and focuses on self-regulation and the subsequent responsibility of the media and journalists.
On December 15, 2021, the legislative board approved with five votes the report of the project that unifies five proposals for reforms to the Communication Law raised by the Executive, former legislator Juan Cárdenas (RC), and the current assembly members Marcela Holguín (UNES ), Marjorie Chávez (PSC), Fernando Villavicencio (CN-PSE) and Dina Farinango (PK).
The decision is to create a new law, but the articles of the current Communication Law are left in force in a normative body called the Law of Advertising, National Production and Radioelectric Spectrum.
In its content, the project seeks to guarantee, promote and defend the exercise of freedom of the press, opinion, expression and the rights of information and communication recognized in the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and international instruments.
They propose that the Law on Freedom of Expression and Communication be processed in different blocks
Legislator Chávez will be the speaker of the project before the plenary session; She assures that the proposal of the new law complies with international standards on issues of free expression, and that in the face of the previous model of censorship that currently exists, it changes to a model of subsequent responsibility and self-regulation.
The intention is to have a law that autonomously and specifically develops and regulates the freedoms of the press, of opinion, of expression and the rights of information and communication recognized in the Constitution and international instruments.
The norm under discussion seeks to overcome a scheme of control, prior censorship, self-censorship and inhibition, and gives rise to a scheme of self-regulation and subsequent responsibility, as suggested by the inter-American standards on the protection of human rights.
The project contained in 38 articles and 16 provisions between general, transitory, reform and repeal, defines what the media and its classes are; the public interest as protected speech; the standard of actual malice as a parameter for determining subsequent liability; the maximum guarantee of freedoms and dissemination of content; subsequent liability as a guarantee of the rights of third parties; plurality, interculturality, affirmative actions, equality, among others.
The rights of reply, rectification, obtaining copies or programs are recognized as mechanisms that allow reparation for damages caused to dignity, honor and good name.
Self-regulation and subsequent liability
In the debate on the report, Chávez recalls, they tried to put aside the moments that were lived up to 2019, that is, the punitive system against the media and journalists.
Elías Jachero (BAN) points out that after analyzing the five reform proposals, what was sought is to guarantee freedom of the press, opinion and expression protected by the Constitution and international instruments.
That it is a perfect project and that after the first debate there will be new proposals, since establishing subsequent responsibility as a self-regulation tool led the legislators of UNES and Pachakutik not to support the report.
Jachero indicates that there are other critical issues such as the obligations of the State regarding freedom of the press, the content of communications, the rights of communication workers and the powers of the Communication Council as a collegiate body that will be in charge of regulating broadcasting. of the messages of violence, sexual and discriminatory themes, but clarifies that this body will not regulate the contents of what the media disseminates.
The position of the UNES legislators from the International Relations table was sought, there was no response. But before the approval of the report, Assemblyman Fernando Cedeño stressed that he is a defender of the current regulations, that is why they believed in the reform and not in the proposal contemplated in the report, therefore, they voted against.
On the other hand, the representative of Pachakutik Salvador Maita announced that he will present a minority report on this project, as he assures that there was no adequate debate in the last meeting of the commission and that the five projects were not unified as stated in the report of most. They also believed that the current Communication Law should be reformed to improve and modernize it in accordance with the needs of the Ecuadorian people and international standards, but not give way to a new law.
The report of the bill defines how the self-regulation model operates from a system that emphasizes the regulation of the media and communication workers themselves based on ethical principles and in an exercise coordinated with the Communication Council, citizen control and the appointment of an ombudsman for hearings.
The text maintains the mandate of the popular consultation of 2011 with the existence of the Communication Council as the body in charge of regulating the dissemination of content and establishing criteria for subsequent responsibility, however, it changes its integration in order to ensure independence and impartiality in their actions and the representation of the sectors that make up the communication system and, based on this, their regulatory, but not sanctioning, powers are clearly defined.
It will be made up of six members, but who will preside over it will no longer be the delegate of the Executive Function, but the delegate of the Transparency and Social Control Function.
It maintains and develops the rights of communication workers and assures them of a specific protection that is provided by the State in relation to the exercise of journalistic activity in certain activities considered risky.
Media classes
The project defines what are public, private and community media. While public media are created by public institutions to disseminate content of public interest, free from political subordination and with an independent editorial line; private media will have autonomy in their programming and freedom to determine the editorial line, their contents can be sponsored.
On the other hand, community media are independent, with programmatic autonomy, non-profit, whose profitability is social, without prejudice to private financing through the commercialization of products, services, projects, etc.
These media belong to collectives, communes, communities, peoples, nationalities, social movements or civil society organizations, and will be aimed at citizen participation, open dialogue, local transparency, strengthening the community they serve, social transformation, the community life system and good living.
Chávez commented that the project establishes incentives for community media, and also takes into account digital media as development tools in communication. (I)
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