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Supercom and media lynching, eliminated in reforms to Communication Law
Posted On 11 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
The Legislative Commission of Collective Rights approved this Monday the report for the second debate of the reforms to the Organic Law of Communication (LOC), andat the last minute it excluded the Office of the Ombudsman the attribution to assume the rights and obligations that corresponded to the Superintendency of Communication (Supercom), an organism that is eliminated from the Law.
With the approval, all rights and obligations, constants in agreements, contracts or other national and international legal instruments, which corresponded to the Supercom will be assumed by the Council for Regulation, Development and Promotion of Information and Communication (Cordicom); thus also the budgetaryitems and all movable and immovable assets, assets and liabilities.
Thischange was raised, at the last minute, by Assemblywoman Jeannine Cruz (CREO),considering that the People’s Defender Gina Benavides insisted before the Commission that she cannot assume the powers of the Supercom, because she would be a judge and a party in the event of any complaints from citizenship for the dissemination of violent content through the media.
As approved, 63 articles were reformed; 14 repealed; in 23 aggregates are made;and 45 articles do not change.
Supercom disappears
Among the changes stand out more than the elimination of Supercom, the suppression of the media lynching, as well as the chapter related to deontological codes contained in articles 9 and 10 of the current Law. This report will be made known to the plenary of the Assembly for approval. It was approved with seven votes in favor and three against.
Another of the changes made last night by the commission of Collective Rights chaired by Jorge Corozo (AP), was to provide that all financial actions that have been imposed on the media and journalists by the Supercom are reviewed.
Alcoholic drinks
A text was also included in article 94 of the LOC, where the media would be authorized to issue advertising for moderation drinks of up to five degrees of alcohol;This provision, as discussed by legislators, will allow the publicity of artisanal beer in the country, which is one of the undertakings that are mainly carried out by young people, they said.
Likewise,a text was established that obliges both public and private advertisers to distributeequally the advertising guidelines in the media of regional or local coverage,which will not be less than 10% in populations under 500 thousand inhabitants. (I)
