JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS Blog
Bolivia approves law to increase state control of media, permit wiretapping
On Thursday, July 28 the Bolivian Senate approved the controversial Telecommunications, Information Technology and Communication Law. The law gives the state majority control of electronic media, according to local press.
Article 11 of the law assigns 33 percent of the broadcast spectrum to both the state and private sector, 17 percent to social and community-based groups, and 17 percent to indigenous peoples and peasants.
Private media dominated the airwaves with more than 90 percent of the operating licenses but the new law will reduce their participation to 33 percent, according to BBC Mundo. The Bolivian Broadcasters Association told the El Nacional newspaper that 400 of the Andean country's 680 registered radio stations will have to close to meet the new distribution of operating licenses.
Critics of the law said that President Evo Morales would control 66 percent of the airwaves thanks to his relationship with indigenous and community-based organizations. Supporters of the law, however, asserted that it would democratize communication in Bolivia.
Article 111 of the law permits intervening with telephone conversations in cases of national security, threats from abroad or disasters. It also obliges telecommunications providers to cooperate with authorities when asked to provide information.
Opposition Senator Bernard Gutiérrez told the newspaper Los Tiempos that the law legalizes wiretapping and worried about the possibility that politicians and journalists would be subject to undue scrutiny under the guise of national security concerns.
"Since he has assumed power, Morales' government has substantially increased its participation in the press through the newspaper Cambio, opened more than 30 communitarian radio stations with financing from Venezuela, fortified the Patria Nueva radio network and the state-run television station Bolivia TV," BBC Mundo reported.
See more about this law in the video below (in Spanish).
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Keep Bolivia as Bolivia, not a Mini-USA, Please
What's wrong with the Bolivian government controlling what goes on in Bolivia? We've seen in America what happens when the press gets too much control. Let Evo run Bolivia, that's his job, not Obama's, not the media's job, either.. Evo's for his people, he's not greedy, and he wants everyone to benefit. I don't see that in America.
Have I been to Bolivia? You bet I have. I loved it, too. Fell in love with the place, actually, and the people. The USA could really learn several lessons from Bolivia. Just because we Americans think we know it all doesn't mean we do. Americans are so backwards it really is shameful.
It's dirtier here, with all the chemicals in the air and water, while their problems are caused by nature, or by us through global warming. Air pollution doesn't stay in one spot. But yet, the USA knows better. Or so they say. But our media is warped by outside interests. One example is co-sleeping with babies. You know who paid for that 'research' to be carried out? The crib manufacturers did. Yup, the figures are skewed. Go see Dr Sears for the real info, that sleeping in a crib actually leads to more SIDS cases. There are lots of different cases, on all sorts of topics. Evo wants to keep the news clean, like his country.
I think Americans are just jealous that they've stood by and let the government get paid by companies who tear up our land and destroy it, and leave us nothing but garbage. Too bad we never really had a President with the ability to be the man of the USA like Bolivia has with Evo.
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