The Federal Administration of Public Incomes (AFIP in Spanish) in Argentina has come under fire for a controversial survey on Argentines' media and journalistic personality preferences, reported the newspaper El Día.
Six Mexican Senators presented a bill to publish public spending for all levels of government in print and electronic media, according to the newspaper El Universal.
On Saturday, July 28, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said that official government advertising will be withheld from several private news media outlets that have accused his administration of damaging freedom of expression in Ecuador.
On Wednesday, March 7, a group of pro-government Argentine newspapers launched the Federal Association of Publishers of Argentina (AFERA in Spanish) as an alternative to the group Association of Newspaper Entities in Argentina (ADEPA in Spanish), reported the newspaper Perfil.
On Feb. 17th, more than 300 newsroom employees of the Philadelphia Media Network (PMN) signed a statement demanding that the journalistic integrity of their work be upheld as the network negotiates its sale with private investor groups, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. The statement also expressed “dismay” that journalists’ coverage of the sale has been compromised and censored by corporate management, said Poynter and Politico.
Mexican organizations Article 19 and Fundar are urging the government to limit spending on communication and advertising just days before the 2012 Expenditure Budget is set to be debated in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, according to the website Avance MX.
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled July 13 that government departments could not discriminate against the community radio station La Voladora with official ad spending, La Jornada reports.
Enrique Hernández Padrón and Graciela Castañón Aguilar, former reporters for El Portal in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosí, say they were fired under pressure from the state government to keep from losing advertising money, Mexico’s National Social Communication Center (CENCOS) reports.
The nation’s highest court unanimously upheld a ruling that obliges the state to omit discriminatory criteria and to maintain “reasonable balance” in allocating government advertising, Hoy newspaper and EFE report.
The Argentine government spent $27 million on broadcast TV advertising in 2010, and 67.5% of the funds went to Canal 9, the most watched channel in the country, La Nación reports. According to Clarín, opposition lawmakers have called for an immediate investigation into government spending on ads.
Just days before the Venezuelan parliamentary elections, representatives from the opposition Democratic Unity Coalition filed a complaint with the National Electoral Board (CNE) alleging that President Hugo Chavez was abusing the media by using them to campaign for candidates supportive of Chavez's party, reported El Universal.
The Chamber of Deputies is considering a bill to regulate the distribution of official advertising to media outlets, Clarín reports. In June, Clarín accused the executive of using ad spending to manipulate coverage.