Controversial Media Law Passed in the Senate

The Senate has approved the controversial new Audiovisual Communications law by a wide margin. After 16 hours of heated debate, with 44 votes in favour and 22 opposed, the law was passed at 6am on the morning of Saturday 10th October without any of the changes requested by the opposition. The new law replaces a law that was put in place during the 1976-83 dictatorship and is seen to be a big step forward for independent and community media.

It is hoped the law will improve competition and increase fairness, as well as break up big media monopolies. The media group headed by Clarín will be largely affected, and the group has been vehement in its criticism of the law.

“It’s a moderate, democratic law,” Miguel Angel Pichetto, the head of the governing party assured. However, he admitted that the law “has profound contradictions,” before concluding that “it’s not perfect, but it’s a massive step forwards.” There has been talk of amending the law in the legislative reshuffle in Congress to take place in December.

The session took off with a few impassioned interventions which died down as the outcome appeared increasingly inevitable. Included in the final draft of the law is its most controversial article 161, which obliges radio and television corporations to renew their licenses on a yearly basis.

Clarín, the corporation most affected by the new law has reacted strongly against a law it believes to have specifically targeted the company. Further opposition has been voiced amongst political representatives. The senator for the Civic Coalition, María Eugenia Estenssoro, has declared “they tell us it’s to do away with monopolies, but this bureaucratic project just facilitates another monopoly – the government.”

It is hoped the law will be in place by December when the ruling party will lose control over Congress, which is to be refilled with the new lawmakers voted in by the June elections.