Mexico. With the appointment of Jenaro Villamil Rodríguez as director of the Public Broadcasting System, SPR, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced a change in the country's public media policy, which includes radio and television.
The intention of this project is for the Mexican State to guarantee the right to free, professional and autonomous information through the Public Broadcasting System of the Mexican State, focusing its efforts on offering quality content in a professional and articulated manner, as well as on defending the rights of audiences in accordance with the social function they must perform.
He added that "there will be no interference in the information that is transmitted. These means will have absolute autonomy; the purpose is to inform professionally. "in no way is it to counteract, affect or compete with the concession system established for radio stations and television channels. It is to order what we already have to improve information to the public, to the citizens; that this is not going to be seen as an action against the particular media or that they have concessions."
For his part, Villamil Rodríguez said that the public media "are means of the citizenry, of the people. They are not government media. They do not have to be media that imitate the commercial model, they are public media that will defend and exercise the right of citizens to be informed, the right to have quality information."
New headlines
At the head of each of the public media that SPR will coordinate, the president proposed new directors that include Armando Casas Pérez, Channel 22; Gabriel Sosa Plata, Radio Education; Aleida Calleja Gutiérrez, Mexican Institute of Radio; Lidia Camacho Camacho, General Directorate of Educational Television; Sanjuana Martínez Montemayor, Notimex; José Antonio Álvarez Lima, Canal 11; Fernando Coca Meneses, Canal 14 and Rodolfo González Valderrama, General Directorate of Radio, Television and Cinematography.
Fight against bribery of media and journalists
Regarding the new policy of spending on official advertising, the president reiterated that the Government of Mexico will substantially reduce the allocated budget, since for 2019 only half of what was spent the previous year will be allocated.
He added that the current administration will favor an environment of freedom of information in a framework of equity and transparency:
"That money is going to be used for government publicity and it is going to be transparent so that everyone knows how that resource is being distributed, with what criteria it has to do, of course, with the scope of the media, independence; that they are autonomous media, independent, not only of the government, but also of vested interest groups."
He recalled that current legislation obliges all media to fulfill their fundamental responsibility, so that official advertising will no longer be a political perk:
"Government advertising is not a favor to the media, it is that the media, whether public or private, have a social function; they are entities of public interest, because they inform. The subsidy ends, there will no longer be the so-called 'chayote', the bribery to the media and journalists is over."
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