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Argentine Congress debates media reform law

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's lower house debated Wednesday
President Cristina Fernandez's broadcast reform bill, which is
expected to pass despite criticism from opposition parties that it
will increase state control over the media.

If approved by the Chamber of Deputies, which is expected to vote late
Wednesday after more than 12 hours of debate, the bill will go to the
Senate where it may have a tougher time getting through.

"We are convinced we will have enough votes," Deputy Agustin Rossi,
head of the president's Victory Front faction of the Peronist party in
the lower house, told reporters.

Fernandez says her reform of decades-old media regulations will
bolster democracy by allowing smaller players and nonprofits more
access to frequencies and putting restrictions on the number of
licenses big media players can have.

But critics say her main motive is to crush the powerful Grupo Clarin
conglomerate, and opposition politicians also question elements of the
reform such as the way the state will be able to assign frequencies in
small cities and towns.

Fernandez and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, have been
locked in a bitter dispute with Grupo Clarin since its news outlets
criticized their handling of a farming crisis last year.

Fernandez smoothed the passage of the law by removing a controversial
clause that would have allowed telephone companies to enter the cable
television business.

She said eliminating that element of the bill should dispel opposition
concerns that telecommunication companies would form new monopolies.

But dissident Peronists, center-right parties and even the center-left
Civic Union opposition party were not swayed by the changes to the law
and made a failed attempt to delay the vote until December when a new
Congress will be seated.

Fernandez's bill comes against a backdrop of leftist leaders in
Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela strengthening state media outlets and
warring with traditional newspapers and broadcasters that have given
their administrations deeply negative coverage.

In Venezuela, Socialist President Hugo Chavez has shut down radio
stations and denied renewal of broadcast licenses. But Fernandez's
reform is not seen as so radical.

"Approval in the senate will be difficult but, at this point, we
believe the senate will likely end up approving the bill, perhaps
after further concessions from the government," said Daniel Kerner, a
Latin America analyst for the Eurasia group.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters/...DIA_print.html

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