IAPA warns that the Ecuadorian Communications Law censors the media

Members of IAPA warn about the Communications Law of Ecuador

On Tuesday, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) warned that the new Communications Law of Ecuador formalizes a series of “press offenses” that benefit the regime on the right to inform of citizens.

The controversial law approved by the National Assembly and subsequently ratified by the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, would enter into force after its official publication and criminalizes the so-called “media lynching.”

This legal figure defines such offense as “settles for information dissemination in order to discredit or reduce the credibility of individuals and legal entities,” said IAPA in a statement.

For Claudio Paolillo, President of the Commission on Freedom of the Press and Information of the SIP, based in Miami, said the new law “undermines journalistic research processes and prevents the public that citizens know what the powers try to hide.”

Paolillo added that this legislation gives special privileges to the authorities on the citizens, a figure that has been removed from the penal codes of most countries of the Americas and has only been in the most authoritarian.

“Unfortunately, Paolillo said, is not surprising that the government of President Correa continue creating press offenses in order to shield his government from criticism and accountability and at the same time, continues to give the back to the citizens.”