Hey Pena Nieto, What Happened to Your Promised Transparency & Freedom of Information? Enrique Acevedo - Fusion
go to original December 2, 2015

On the campaign trail three years ago, Enrique Peña Nieto promised his administration would usher in a new era of relations between government and media.

Peña Nieto vowed to promote constitutional reforms that would strengthen transparency for government advertising contracts while protecting freedom of the press and citizens’ right to information. But since taking office in 2012, his administration has done little to fulfill those pledges or champion the public’s right to know.

Granted, Peña Nieto built consensus in Congress to pass an unprecedented telecommunications reform that aims to expand competition. However, this new law still fails at addressing the obscure relationship between government and those in charge of holding it accountable.

Three years into the administration, the federal government continues to be the biggest source of advertising revenue for media companies. And it’s not shy about using its money as leverage to control the flow of information.

According to a report by media watchdog Articulo 19 and the Fundar Center for Analysis and Research, the president has spent close to $1 billion in advertising during his first two years in office. That unprecedented level of government spending on publicity, which has vastly exceeded the allocated budget, has gone mostly to the country’s biggest media conglomerates, which critics say helped to pave Peña Nieto’s way to the presidency.

Read the rest at Fusion

Related: Peña Nieto's Third Year Marked by Economic, Political and Social Crises (Mexico Voices)

Photo: AP/Marco Ugarte

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