Amazon radio taken off air for bogus reasons after reporting on Peruvian riots

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Newswatch

Amazon radio taken off air for bogus reasons after reporting on Peruvian riots
Date: June 16, 2009 Author: Newswatch Desk

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned as “bogus” and “dishonest” technical and official explanations given by the Ministry of Transport and Communications for banning broadcasting by the radio station La Voz de Bagua Grande in the town of the same name in Peru’s north-west.

Paris-based RSF called on the government, unhappy at the media’s support for recent indigenous peoples’ demonstrations, to respect rules for the station’s approval including time limits fixed by itself.

“No-body is fooled by the reasons advanced by the government for silencing La Voz de Bagua Grande. This comes after recent clashes in the Amazonian region between government forces and the indigenous population,” RSF said.

“Several voices, both within the police and the government, have accused the station of encouraging the riots. If this accusation was well-founded, why resort to administrative and technical arguments to justify revoking the broadcast licence of La Voz de Bagua Grande? It is an act of censorship and intimidation. We call on the government to keep its own word and to allow the station the right to resume broadcasting”, it said.

Read more: http://www.newswatch.in/newsblog/4290

[Judi Lynn]

1. Reporters Without Borders condemns closure of radio station in Peru

Reporters Without Borders condemns closure of radio station in Peru
15 June, 2009 < 12:06 >

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a document in its website calling "misleading" and "dishonest" the technical and administrative reasons given for closing the Amazonian station "La Voz de Bagua Grande" (La Voz de Utcubamba).

The decision to close the station came days after the radio was accused of “fomenting the riots between the Armed Forces and native populations,” remarked RSF noted in its statement.

"If this accusation had grounds, why using administrative and technical arguments to justify the cancellation of the station's license?” adds the statement, stating that this is “an act of censorship and intimidation.”

The Peruvian Minister of Interior, Mercedes Cabanillas, had publicly threatened to shut down that station and "Radio Orient" for its alleged "support" of violence against law enforcement officials, recalls Reporters Without Borders.

"This is further evidence of a serious governmental prejudice against freedom of press,” says RSF.

http://www.livinginperu.com/news/9345