Argentina's congress is currently voting on an exciting media reform bill that will split the available media licenses into thirds -- 1/3 will remain in the hands of private business, 1/3 will go to government and public use, and 1/3 will be issued to NGOs and community groups. In addition, restrictions will be placed on media ownership, such as preventing the ownership of broadcast and cable networks in one city. This move would cause huge media conglomerates, like Clarin, to sell off some of its babies.
Let's interject a background check on Clarin here. Clarin owns three TV stations, two radio stations, and eleven print publications. It controls about 50% of cable TV, and according to Clarin's website, ONE of its TV stations accounts for FORTY-FOUR percent of TV advertising. It's also got some shares in telecommunication companies and Internet providers. Being the largest media conglomerate in Argentina, Clarin is naturally a vocal opponent to the current "leftist" administration.
Back to the matter at hand. The new law has not gone without opposition. Who's the primary driving force behind the opposition? Duh! It's Clarin. Clarin has narcissistically asserted that the law's primary intent is to silence its criticisms of the government. Sadly, this narrow-minded idea has caught on. A recent CNN article on the new law chose to focus on Cristina's personal vendetta against Clarin, outright ignoring the fundamental points of media diversity, regulation, and antitrust.
Others are concerned that the reform gives too much power to the government. It's the age-old question -- do we want an oligarchic government to control everything? No. Would we rather have big business control everything? Fuck no. At least with the government, we have a shot at democratic control. With private corporations, our voices will never be heard above the resounding "cha-ching" of profit.
The current battle marks the first attempt at media reform since Videla, yes the murderous dictator, instituted law that guaranteed huge profits for private media companies, banned community associations from obtaining media licenses, and criminalized any reporting on the systematic extermination of leftists, unionists, and students taking place across the country. This was almost thirty years ago. For thirty years, the media has been consolidating because of this dictator, and today in Argentina, a mere five groups own nearly all the media outlets in the country. The enduring media law still gives big corporations the advantage over small independent organizations, and the conglomerates don't have to deal with pesky competition.
This new law paves the path to breaking the monopolization of media by private companies, to giving equal access to non-profits and government organizations, and to giving the media more voices. Government centrists claim that with the new bill, there "will be full freedom of speech." Yeah, I don't know about that. But when considering whether the new law is worth fighting for, one must consider that it has been inflammatorily referred to as "indirect expropriation" by the right-wing forces against it. Well then, I'll take TWO! I like to think of it as the public option -- it's not single-payer, but it's definitely a step toward it.
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Today thousands of signs (I'm not even going to try to count heads) appeared in front of Congress and rallied for hours, and as far as I know people are still rallying. I can't believe that a month ago I got excited reading about this thousands of miles away in San Francisco, and now I'm here, standing side by side, yelling and chanting and clapping with the people that are making this happen.
The Evita/Peronista signs were ubiquitous, so I took this sign out of context in defiance:
And http://www.infobae.com/contenidos/476996-101275-0-D%27El%C3%ADa-y-militantes-oficialistas-llegan-al-Congreso-para-seguir-el-debate-de-la-Ley-de-Medios
It's two in the morning now; they've been debating for almost 20 hours. I watched the debate live on the news for a while, and I saw a guy waving a paper and doing the Italian emphasis gestures repeatedly. I'm pretty sure this is a good sign.
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02:27 (ART): El senado aprobo en general la ley de medios. 44-24. EAT it, Clarin!
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