Argentine Congress debates media reform law (coming attractions)

Forbes ^ | 16 Sept 2009 | Luis Andres Henao

[Ben Mugged]

Argentina's lower house debated Wednesday President Cristina Fernandez's broadcast reform bill, which is expected to pass despite criticism from opposition parties that it will increase state control over the media.

~snip~ "We are convinced we will have enough votes," Deputy Agustin Rossi, head of the president's Victory Front faction of the Peronist party in the lower house, told reporters.

Fernandez says her reform of decades-old media regulations will bolster democracy by allowing smaller players and nonprofits more access to frequencies and putting restrictions on the number of licenses big media players can have.

But critics say her main motive is to crush the powerful Grupo Clarin conglomerate, and opposition politicians also question elements of the reform such as the way the state will be able to assign frequencies in small cities and towns.

Fernandez and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, have been locked in a bitter dispute with Grupo Clarin since its news outlets criticized their handling of a farming crisis last year.

Fernandez smoothed the passage of the law by removing a controversial clause that would have allowed telephone companies to enter the cable television business.

She said eliminating that element of the bill should dispel opposition concerns that telecommunication companies would form new monopolies.

But dissident Peronists, center-right parties and even the center-left Civic Union opposition party were not swayed by the changes to the law and made a failed attempt to delay the vote until December when a new Congress will be seated.

Fernandez's bill comes against a backdrop of leftist leaders in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela strengthening state media outlets and warring with traditional newspapers and broadcasters that have given their administrations deeply negative coverage.

[Ben Mugged]

Coming soon to a country near and dear to you.....