Seven media appear before the Supercom

The Superintendency of Information and Communication (Supercom) initiated hearings against seven television and written media accused of not publishing an article from the Argentine magazine Pagina 12, which talks against the presidential hopeful of the CREO party Guillermo Lasso and his alleged involvement with offshore companies in tax havens.

Viviana Paredes and Kevin Pazmiño, of the Citizen Observatory for a Quality Communication, filed lawsuits for “prior censorship” against La Hora, Expreso, El Universo and El Comercio, Ecuavisa, Teleamazonas, and Televicentro.

The Supercom established a schedule of hearings for the next two days. Yesterday, Daily El Comercio was the first to give the statements of facts. The hearing against La Hora was suspended.

Henry Tobar, a lawyer at El Comercio, pointed out that the information published on Pagina 12 has not been verified. Moreover, he added that the Observatory calls the information contained in the Argentine magazine as ‘hypothetical.’ This situation has been ratified by the complainant Viviana Paredes.

“Pagina 12 did not contrast the information,” she acknowledged. It is worth stressing that Paredes is an ardent supporter of the Government of President Rafael Correa and an active Twitter user as well.