MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuador president limits publicity to “friendly” media and raids magazine office

President Correa: you’re with me or you’re against me

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) described as “contrary to the principles of freedom of expression and press freedom” an order by the Government of Ecuador to withdraw official advertising from independent news media.

The hemisphere organization also voiced concern at the raid on and embargo of assets of the magazine “Vanguardia” and threats to shut down the organization “Fundamedios”.

President Rafael Correa announced on July 28 that he was ordering his officials to suspend placement of official advertising in several privately-owned media in reprisal for their critical stance towards the government. The order affects such independent media, among them the newspapers “Hoy”, “El Comercio”, “El Universo” and “La Hora” and television channels “Ecuavisa” and “Teleamazonas”.

In June this year the IAPA and other international and national press organizations criticized President Correa for having ordered ministers and officials to not grant interviews to news media outlets.

“We in the IAPA believe that discrimination in the placement of official advertising to benefit some media and punish others is a capricious use of public funds and it is against the Declaration of Chapultepec and the Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission,” declared Milton Coleman, president of IAPA and senior editor of The Washington Post.

Coleman added that what “we do maintain, and is in line with court rulings in other countries and with international standards, is that the government should have technical and transparent criteria, and that the mission of that advertising is to add to the knowledge of the citizens in matters of public interest.” Under this concept, he went on, in Ecuador “the independent and privately-owned media provide great coverage and penetration and it cannot be denied that they are excellent vehicles of information for the people.”

In another action taken on Wednesday officials from the Ministry of Labour Relations raided the Quito headquarters of the magazine “Vanguardia” and impounded computers, furniture and other assets. The raid was justified as being a response to non-compliance with an administrative sanction regarding the magazine’s failure to heed the requirement that it employ a certain number of handicapped persons on its staff. However, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Iván Flores Poveda, argued that the company has submitted legal evidence to the contrary.

In December 2010 “Vanguardia” suffered another raid, allegedly because it was in arrears in office rent. On that occasion the offices were searched and several of the journalists’ computers were seized.

Coleman said that the IAPA has been following the case of the government accusations and threats to shut down the Andean Foundation for the Observation and Study of Media (Fundamedios), and against its director, César Ricaurte. Fundamedios, a not-for-profit organization devoted to monitoring press freedom in the South American country, has been accused by the government of carrying out destabilizing activities there.