WACC: Guatemala - Media monopoly "squeezes out alternative voice

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> News feature...

**Guatemala: Media monopoly "squeezes out alternative voices"**

**â??Controlling information is taking away people's right to
information, something that is fundamental for real democracy to
existâ?? (Gonzalo Marroquín, Guatemalan journalist and President  of
Inter American Press Association)**

Over the past 30 years, information and communication technologies in
Guatemala have evolved significantly, but media monopoly has remained
unchanged.

â??One thing that has stayed the same is the concentration of media
ownership in a very few hands,â?? says Dennis Smith, President of the
World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), in a recent
interview in Guatemala City.

â??Mexican media mogul, Remigio González, based in Miami USA, ha s had
monopoly control of the countryâ??s broadcast television stations
since the mid-1990sâ??, says Smith.

BBCâ??s Guatemala country profile

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1215758.stm#media

affirms that private operators dominate the media scene. â??Four
national TV channels share the same owner and have a virtual monopoly
in TV broadcasting. The channels have been criticized for being
pro-government.â??

Although press freedom is enshrined in Guatemala's constitution, and
newspapers freely criticise the government, many journalists face
intimidation because of their reporting, often in the form of
anonymous threats. Reporters who â??exposeâ?? corruption are
particularly targeted, reports the BBC.

The WACC President explains that the media monopoly has tremendous
influence on news coverage. Alternative views are compromised with
views that are perceived to be in the interest of maintaining the
status quo.

With regard to the scale of media outreach in the country, Smith says
that radio has the broadest penetration in the population and
significant presence of Indigenous languages. However, he points out
that radio does not have â??a single national coverageâ??, it is
rather fragmented into regional commercial and community entities. He
also observes that licensing bureaucracies make it difficult for many
communities to have their own radio stations.

Television, he says, has a more unified presence due to the existing
monopoly, broadcasting the same channels throughout the country.

And on print media, Smith says that the daily newspapers tend to be
more elitist except for Nuesto Diario - a daily newspaper with a
circulation of 300,000 copies, the largest daily press run of any
newspaper in all of Central America.

â??It tends to be a tabloid, not only in its format but also a tabloid
in Rupert Murdochâ??s British Sun style with heavy emphasis on scandal
and lots of scantily clad maidens and also on the daily violence in
different communitiesâ??, says Smith.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCK01oHM9xc&feature=player_embedded)

Evelyn Blanck, a veteran journalist with local media for over 20 years
concurs that the media monopoly has had an adverse influence on human
rights and democracy in the country.

â??We are very concerned to see the press behave in ways that we
consider to be going against the movement towards democratization in
the countryâ??, she says.

Blanck, the Executive Director of Centro Civitas, a think tank working
with communication media on social and human rights issues points out
three recent findings of their media monitoring research:

Journalists donâ??t understand well the concept of human rights.
There is an underlying belief that human rights are basically to
defend delinquents.

Most of the coverage on human rights defenders is not featured on
news pages but mainly on opinion pages.

Most coverage is focused on individual high profile human rights
defenders.

However, Blanck observes that although there is an â??exclusion
processâ?? in media coverage of human rights issues, there has been
some improvement and progress. â??The regional media are beginning to
have certain coverage especially of social issues. But most of the
coverage is focused on local violence - sensational yellow
journalismâ??.

Centro Civitas is running an ongoing programme to train journalists as
human rights promoters and also a special programme on women and media
to promote equal representation of women in the news media coverage.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmxW7YrwQes&feature=player_embedded)

The President of Inter American Press Association (IAPA), Gonzalo
Marroquín, who recently resigned as editor of Guatemalaâ??s flag ship
daily Prensa Libre, recently declared: "We are in a time of great
contrasts, where we can acknowledge that there is greater public
awareness of the importance of freedom of expression, better media and
technologies for communication. Unfortunately there also exist risks
and setbacks caused by those who want to impose silence, whether they
be participants in organized crime, corrupt officials or authoritarian
governments."

Marroquín, while welcoming 2011 as â??Freedom of Expression Year â??,
further said, "We must not forget that freedom of expression in the
Americas is facing great enemies - organized crime (especially drug
traffickers) and those authoritarian and intolerant governments that
want to control information. These enemies are really attacking
society at large more than journalists and media, because what they
are trying to do is take away people's right to information which, in
his opinion, is fundamental for real democracy to exist.
(http://www.ifex.org/americas/2010/12/16/free_expression_year/)

The WACC president underlines that the complexities imposed by
Guatemalaâ??s telecommunications law have derailed communication
rights efforts in the country.

â??Although communication rights context in the country is changing
dramatically with a widespread use of cell phones, monopoly remains a
challengeâ??, declares Smith.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snoC2jDMf-4&feature=player_embedded)

WACC, through its communication rights programme, continues to support
various initiatives around the world to increase awareness and
recognition of communication rights as a human right and as a part of
fair and sustainable political, social, and economic development.

For more information about the WACC communication rights programme, go
to:
http://www.waccglobal.org/en/programmes/recognising-and-building-communicat 
ion-rights.html

> To learn more about Centro Civitas visit:
> http://centrocivitas.org/sitio/