By Liliana Honorato
On Tuesday, July 3, the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) released a proposal to limit the financial amount of moral damages that could be claimed against journalists. The proposal, which will be sent to the Argentine Congress, calls for the limit to be tied to the minimum wage, reported the news site LaNoticia1.com.
The goal of the proposal “is to seek economic predictability for the journalists' work and not their indemnity,” FOPEA said. The proposal comes in response to the high number of lawsuits that are an attempt to silence the press in the country, which leads to an environment of self-censorship, "since it attacks the human right to information and creates uncertainty and instability for journalists," added FOPEA.
Several freedom of expression organizations have repeatedly criticized Argentina's hostility toward freedom of expression and the press. Among them are the Inter American Press Association, the International Press Institute, the Argentine Journalistic Entities Association, and FOPEA, as well as the U.S. government, which criticized the Argentine government for the lack of freedom of expression in the country.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
