02/18/2020 - 16:49
- Clarín.com
- Politics
The Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (Adepa) on Tuesday expressed its "absolute rejection" of the bill promoted by Kirchner senators that annuls the preventive prisons in case the media spread the accusations against them.
According to the organization, this initiative - “without a background in the world”, seeks to “delegitimize and limit the role of investigative journalism, central to modern democracies. In addition, he said that the rule " clearly violates freedom of expression and promotes self-censorship."
“For Adepa, to pretend that a journalistic investigation on corruption, one of the functions of the free press, constitutes per se an attenuator in the procedural situation of a defendant, rubs nonsense and seeks, once again, to intentionally confuse the roles that journalism and justice they have in democracy, ”he adds.
Adepa's full statement:
The Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (Adepa) expresses its absolute refusal to attempt to delegitimize and limit, through a wild legislative project without background in the world, the role of investigative journalism, central to modern democracies. The proposed rule clearly violates freedom of expression and promotes self-censorship.
For Adepa, to pretend that a journalistic investigation on corruption, one of the functions of the free press, constitutes per se an attenuator in the procedural situation of a defendant, rubs nonsense and seeks, once again, to intentionally confuse the roles that journalism and Justice they have in democracy.
According to the bill presented in the Senate of the Nation, the preventive detention of the accused would be annulled if the media “affect” the perception of their innocence. The text indicates, among other points, that “any judicial resolution ordering preventive detention or detention will be declared void” if “the publication of contents by one or more mass media, which could have affected public perception regarding the principle of innocence about the one affected by the resolution ”.
For Adepa, questioning and weakening, ex ante, generically and nothing less than by law, the role of investigative journalism, seeks to discourage journalistic work, reduce levels of transparency and, ultimately, favor impunity.
Adepa urges lawmakers to dismiss this bill that clearly violates the most basic principles of freedom of expression, contained in the National Constitution and in the International Human Rights Treaties.
Approving an initiative like that would constitute a precedent against unheard of free expression in democracy.