Argentina: Government to change media law, will champion Competition and free speech

Argentina’s brand new Communications Minister, Oscar Aguad announced that “current regulation of our media law will not continue during our administration.” As his first announcement since assuming this position, Mr. Aguad promised he would oversee the application of the country’s Media Laws “with a different philosophy” from the law’s literal sense.

“The law was crafted to squash Grupo Clarín and other media, such as Cadena 3, which the government didn’t like. Our philosophy is the opposite: freedom of expression will be absolute and media outlets will have to compete with one another, as in the market.” said the new minister.

Argentina’s Media Law was approved by Congress in 2009 and ratified by the supreme court. The deadline for its provisions to be implemented passed two years ago. It’s most democratizing clause proposes to end al media monopolies, particularly historic media giant Grupo Clarín, owners of the country’s main Newsprint supplier and the dominant actor in both the newsprint paper and news media industries.

Source: Terra

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