Argentina communications law takes step back

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) expressed
concern today at the suspension of a new law that was designed to
improve the country’s limited access to freedom of expression.

In a press release, AMARC, an international organizations that supports community radio, opposed the suspension of Law #26.522 by the Federal Appeal Court of Mendoza, which argued procedural problems.

The decision re-establishes previous broadcast legislation that AMARC says “limited access to freedom of expression, and was “limited access to freedom of expression and that was adopted by decree and without discussion during the late military dictatorship in 1980.”

The new legislation was supported by Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), as “an important development in regards to the previous situation in Argentina. Under the previous regulations, the implementation authority was completely dependent on the executive power, there were no clear, transparent and equitable rules for licence allocation and there were no effective conditions for the existence of broadcasting that was really free from political pressures”.

Today is World Press Freedom Day. Check out Canadian Journalists for Free Expression’s new report on free expression in Canada.

The next global gathering of
community radio broadcasters has been set for La Plata, Argentina, Nov.
8-13. 

AMARC 10 will bring together more than 400 community
broadcasters and stakeholders from over 100 countries in all regions of
the world. According to the conference invitation, “It  will be a place
to reflect on the growth of community media worldwide and to respond,
through international solidarity, to the challenges that we continue to
face in creating new forms of popular communication.”