Fernando Alvarado Espinel took office aiming a heavy round of criticism towards the media, El Comercio reports. In his view, the majority of media represent the interests of economic groups that oppose the "citizen revolution,” and they have left the "common citizen" out of their agendas, the article adds.
The secretary's new main duties include creating a communication policy council and a government news agency. Alvarado said the objective is not to control what the media reports, but rather to present the government's agenda in a decentralized manner, Ecuador Inmediato adds.
However, in an opinion column in El Comercio, Marco Arauz suggests that these measures really represent a second chapter in the government's crusade against the press. "Those who believed that the [political council] would bring good news for freedom of expression must save their enthusiasm." In the government's view, "the media are like weeds, and therefore must be cut in order not to grow." In that sense, Arauz concludes, the government's next steps include "official news agencies, political councils, systems, oversight and laws."
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