Chile. The National Television Council, CNTV, reported the Annual Balance of Charges and Sanctions for the year 2021. According to the document, the Council reviewed 1,493 cases during 2021, the highest figure in its history. It also applied sanctions in 58 cases.
40% of the cases that the CNTV sanctions are related to violation of fundamental rights: mental integrity, private life, honor and right to information. Secondly, there are violations of children's rights, with 31% of the total grounds used to punish.
These issues, according to the same report, closely follow the concerns of citizens in front of television. It is noted that citizen complaints received by the Council, in addition to increasing in number year after year, increasingly refer to these same problems.
As citizen complaints grow, the capacity for oversight is also increasing, with a noticeable increase from 2018 to date. In 2021, a total of 1,493 cases were audited, the highest figure in recent years. 90% of these cases reviewed by the Council come from citizen complaints.
However, this increase in the pace of control does not mean that television is being sanctioned any more than before. Cases in which it was decided to file charges fell from 9.3% in 2020 to 4.8% of the total cases reviewed in 2021. All the rest was archived or declared to be no place.
In total, 58 sanctions were applied during 2021.
Free-to-air television
The vast majority of the cases reviewed in 2021 correspond to free-to-air television channels. In the same way, the formulation of charges and the possible application of sanctions also corresponds to a greater extent to this type of channel.
During 2021, free-to-air television received 54 sanctions, representing 93% of the total. The most sanctioned channels are also the four most watched: Chilevisión, Mega, TVN and Canal 13.
Pay TV
Pay TV received four penalties during 2021, compared to 18 in 2020. The main reason was the violation of the provisions of article 1 of Law 18,838, on the spiritual formation of children and young people. Specifically, it is the broadcast of films for adults, in the hours of all spectators.
On the side of complaints to pay television, these have also been increasing and are already above the 1,000 complaints received per year. An increase in the control of such cases is to be expected.
What about citizen complaints?
In a summarized and schematic way, the phases of the CNTV audit process are threefold. The process begins with the receipt of complaints or with the Decision of the Council to act ex officio. The following process then starts:
-Admissibility and charges: review of the case by the Audit Department and the Council. At this stage, it is up to the decision whether to file charges or to close the case.
-Disclaimers and resolution: dealers or permittees are notified of the charges and can respond with their disclaimers to the Council. At this stage the Council may decide to apply a sanction or acquit.
-Judicialization: if the regulated person who receives the sanction decides to go to the Court of Appeals, the case goes to the courts of justice. The Court could uphold the penalty, as well as lower the fine or even set aside the penalty. A case could eventually escalate to the Supreme Court, but it's rare.
Origin of complaints
Most of the cases that the CNTV monitors come from citizen complaints. Only 10% corresponds to ex officio actions of the Council, many of the latter referring to compliance with the cultural norm. This has been occurring as the complaints received increase and, in addition, are received for processing.
It should be noted that the CNTV does not receive a sustained flow of complaints, but that these are specific episodes that arouse indignation in the public, which comes en masse to denounce.
This has an impact on the distribution of complaints: few programs, with few channels, concentrate the largest number of complaints received.
Period analyzed
Programs broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 2021, with sanction or acquittal dictated until the session of Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
