The president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, has presented the Congress with a proposal that toughens content regulations on the media, including regulation on schedules and punishments for broadcasting violent or obscene content, content that celebrates or defends crime, or content that goes against morals and good behavior, said La Prensa. Lobo’s proposed telecom law is popularly known as the “ley mordaza” – the gag law – due to its restrictions on press freedom.
A commission in Congress has recommended four more components for the law: a framework law for the telecom sector; a press freedom and free expression of thought law; an antimonopoly law; and a contracting and public-private partnership law, according to the newspaper La Tribuna.
According to the report, the four proposals will demand that the media “present a newsworthy assessment of information related to natural or legal persons” and follow ethical parameters for broadcasting information, according to La Prensa. Additionally, radio and TV stations will have to make known the name of their licensee, any other business owned by the licensee, the name of stockholders running for election, and publish a list of their 25 most important advertisers and the minimum wage and labor rights of media workers. The law also makes owners and editors responsible for crimes against honor committed by any employee, and obligates media companies to submit to a Regulatory Commission of Freedom of the Press and Free Expression of Thought, which will include churches, family heads, and community organizations.
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.
