UPDATE: Journalists Challenge Restrictive Media Law in Ecuador's Constitutional Court

 (Photo credit: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador)

The Wall St. Journal reported this week that journalists and other free press advocates have asked Ecuador's highest court, the Constitutional Court, to overturn a restrictive media law enacted in June (see "TUOL" post 6/14/13) by a National Assembly supportive of President Rafael Correa.

Correa, who has ruled the South American Republic since 2006 and famously grappled with journalists in court whom he has sued for slander, backed the media law revisions. Among the changes in the new law is a redistribution of television frequencies, the lion's share of which were privately owned, so that a third would be run by the government, a third of radio and tv frequencies would remain in the hands of  the private sector, and the remaining 33 percent would be community-run.

Critics of the new law, who contend it suppresses the freedom of opinion and expression, are especially troubled by the creation of a government communications superintendent position that would be empowered to sanction the news media and conduct audits, according to the Journal article.

New Media Law Weakens Ecuadoran Broadcast Journalism

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ecuador's National Assembly today is expected to approve a measure proposed by President Rafael Correa that will significantly diminish the influence of private broadcast journalists, according to an article by the Agence France Presse wire service.

The proposed law will redistribute control of the South American republic's airwaves, allocating one-third shares to private media, community radio and television, and state media. Presently, private media dominates, with shares of 85 percent in radio and 71 percent in television, the AFP article reported.

Correa, who aggressively has sued journalists and news organizations under the country's slander laws (see "TUOL" post 2/17/12), has ruled Ecuador since 2006, and his party, in last month's election, gained an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

Under the proposed media law, a new regulatory agency would be created to sanction and fine organizations that refuse to correct published information.

UPDATE: Ecuadoran President Pardons Daily & Journos in Libel Judgment

Image via Wikipedia

El Universo, facing a $40 million libel judgment, and  four journalists looking at three-year jail terms, are breathing more easily on the news that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has issued pardons, the Associated Press reports.

Last month, the Latin American nation's highest court upheld the libel judgment awarded the 48-year-old Correa based on a story alleging Correa ordered security forces last September to open fire in a hospital filled with civilians (see "TUOL" post 2/17/12). In what amounts to a public relations coup for Correa, but fosters a growing unease among Ecuadorian journalists concerning press freedom, the president characterized his granting of the pardons as a victory over a "corrupt press," according to a post on the iMediaEthics.org Web site.

It is unclear whether a scheduled March 28 hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the case will go forward now that El Universo and its reporters no longer are liable for the defamation judgment, .

UPDATE: Ecuador High Court Upholds Libel Judgment for President Correa

PRESIDENTE RAFAEL CORREA EN EL CIUDADANO TV (Photo credit: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador)A $40 million libel judgment awarded last July to Ecuador's President Rafael Correa against  the El Universo daily newspaper and its ex-opinion editor Emilio Pallacio has been upheld by a three-judge panel of  the Latin American nation's highest court, CNN reports.

The 48-year-old Correa, who has led Ecuador since 2008, sued when the defendant published an article accusing him of ordering security forces last September to open fire in a hospital filled with civilians. (See "TUOL" post 1/26/12.)

The Committee to Protect Journalists blasted the court decision in a statement issued from its New York headquarters.  Pallacio, who not only is responsible for $30 million of the judgment, but also faces a three-year jail term under the court ruling, presently is seeking asylum in Miami, according to CNN.

Ecuador Law Curbs Press Election Coverage; Censorship Feared

Image via WikipediaUrged by President Rafael Correa to stamp out "illegitimate propaganda," the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly has enacted a law preventing news media from writing about candidates or their movements within 45 days of an election, Bloomberg News reports.

Voters will choose a president, vice president and members of the Assembly (which supplanted the National Congress in 2007) on Jan. 20, 2013, but free press advocates, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, are concerned the legislation, that encompasses positive and negative coverage of candidates, may be used to stifle journalists.

Judge's Illness Stalls Paper's Appeal of Libel Judgment for Ecuador's President

Image via WikipediaThe Ecuadorian daily El Universo's appeal of a $40 million libel judgment in favor of  the country's President, Rafael Correa, was delayed this week by the illness of a member of the three-judge panel hearing the appeal, CNN reports.

President Correa, the 48-year-old economist who assumed leadership of the South American republic in 2008, was awarded $40 million last July in a ruling that also resulted in three-year jail terms for El Universo's former opinions editor and its directors. A column entitled No to lies that appeared in February 2011, which branded Correa a "dictator" responsible for a September 2010, attack in which security forces allegedly fired on civilians in a hospital, triggered the lawsuit by the president, who dismissed the allegations as false and  an "outrage," according to the CNN account.

President Correa has rejected El Universo's offer of a public apology conditioned, in part,  on his dropping his suit against journalists and following the nation's access to public information law. In the U.S., a government entity can't be defamed and a public official suing for libel must overcome the challenging legal hurdle of proving "actual malice," meaning that the media defendant published false statements about the official knowing they were untrue or with reckless disregard for the falsity of the statements that impugned the official's reputation.