National Assembly closes the first debate on the communication bill

The National Assembly, this January 11, closed the first debate of the bill for the guarantee, promotion and protection of freedom of the press, opinion, expression and communication, amid questions about whether it is a new law or a reform to the current norm.

This project includes several initiatives from both the Executive and legislators that led the International Relations Commission to build a new text.

Communication Law is almost inapplicable due to the lack of its regulations

Legislator Marjorie Chávez (PSC), speaker of the project, said that the project will allow the change of that model that privileged censorship and self-censorship, that privileged silence for a model of subsequent responsibility in which the keynote is respect for freedom. thought and the permanent search for the truth.

He specified that a new law is necessary, and not just a reform, because in Ecuador there are no parameters to establish the extent to which a law could be reformed; However, the legislative technique provides that when the modification seeks to substantially change the content and scope of the Law, when it seeks to institute a new foundation that motivates the normative body, it is necessary to build a new law.

He indicated that it is proposed to replace a model of direct and indirect censorship raised through an institutional design that privileged the control and sanction of communication content, the opinions of communication workers, with another of subsequent responsibility that privileges free movement of information and the plural manifestation of opinions.

The model of subsequent responsibility, under debate, establishes civil and criminal responsibilities for those who spread a prohibited and harmful message, but contrary to the current model, it promotes responsible broadcasting and dissemination of the message and not silence for fear of repercussions.

Chávez stressed that the project does not contemplate the possibility that the honor of citizens is affected, but rather protects it, especially from speeches that affect the integrity of children and adolescents.

Legislator Marcela Holguín, from the Union for Hope (UNES) bench, raised ten points that should be taken into account, among them, consider that it is a reform, that the law is not divided, because it would create legal insecurity, leaving no legal coverage other rights and guarantees that are contemplated in the current law, as it warned that it is intended to remove the issue of frequencies from the law.

He expressed that it is time to move from the current sanctioning model to one of training and mediation, since it must be understood that economic sanctions to the media do not guarantee the quality of the content, while the training processes are more efficient; and the controversies that arise can be resolved through mediation processes.

That the legislature should focus on improving the working conditions of communication workers, improve their salary tables, guarantee their safety, demand prompt payment, and determine an impediment to participating in frequency contests for those media that do not comply with salary obligations. .

That the Regulation Council cannot be eliminated taking into account that in May 2011, by popular consultation, its existence was determined as a body that regulates the dissemination of content that contains messages of violence, explicitly sexual or discriminatory.

The legislator Johanna Moreira (ID) stressed that in the bill sent by the Executive on communication, she forgot to collect the popular mandate of 2011, regarding the existence of the regulation council.

For the Social-Christian legislator Luis Almeida, with the project under debate, it is going backwards, since a series of things requested by the 1,400 radio broadcasters in the country are not taken into account, for which he stated that this proposal should be included in the second debate.

Martha Roldós, from the Mil Leaves portal, warned that the concerns for those who do journalism go through the issue of the critical capacity to do their work, since article 20 of the project under debate would prevent any media outlet from pronouncing on the issue of how there is a judicial process.

He proposed to remove the restrictions of what a verifiable or true news means, who is going to determine this type of thing.

The representative of Fundamedios, César Ricaurte, made some observations to the bill under debate regarding the inclusion in the text of previous conditions, such as truthfulness, timeliness or impartiality, which are not compatible with the right to freedom of expression, according to the standards international

He indicated that monitoring the situation of the press in Ecuador accounts for 3,045 attacks in the last 14 years, and that in the last year the threat to journalists by organized crime has increased. (I)