As many of you know, AMLO (center-left candidate for the presidency of Mexico) has consistently charged that both Televisa and Azteca, which control over 95% of Mexico's TV audience, used their news programs to support Calderon and undermine him during the presidential campaign.
Of course, the Mexican press mocked AMLO whenever he leveled these charges, arguing that both broadcasters were "fair and balanced".
The print press, especially Reforma, a RightWing newspaper, did not come to AMLO's defense. The editor of the paper could have assigned a couple of reporters to conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the news content in Televisa and Azteca's news programs, and thereby assess the validity of AMLO's charges, but he decided not to do so.
Well, surprise, surprise. Reforma has now "discovered" that the broadcast networks do use their news programs to undermine their adversaries.
On Monday, Reforma published the following on its front page, charging that Salinas Pliego (owner of TV Azteca) was using the newscasts of his national broadcast network to defame its publisher and directors, all because Reforma had run a series of stories charging that Azteca and Televisa had unfairly attacked GE and Grupo Saba, two companies hoping to start a third television network.
http://www.reforma.com/...
Defiende privilegios con viejas mentiras
Lanza Salinas Pliego campaña de ataques personales contra directivos de Grupo Reforma
Ciudad de México (17 diciembre 2006).- Por incomodarle que Grupo Reforma publicara información sobre la posible licitación de la tercera cadena de televisión nacional, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, dueño de TV Azteca, lanzó ayer una campaña de ataques personales contra directivos de esta Casa Editora.
Estos hechos se suman a los recientes embates que la cadena televisiva emprendió contra Isaac Saba y su socio, General Electric, ambos "culpables" de haber demostrado interés conjunto por participar en esta nueva opción televisiva.
Para atacar a Grupo Reforma, la televisora y su revista Vértigo difundieron versiones surgidas en 1972 a raíz de un distanciamiento suscitado entre los finados fundadores-propietarios de la empresa regiomontana Editora El Sol, don Rodolfo Junco de la Vega Voigt y su esposa, María Teresa Gómez, con su hijo Rodolfo Junco de la Vega Gómez.
mas....
A rough translation follows:
He defends privileges with lies
Salinas Pliego initiates a smear campaign against Directors of Grupo Reforma
Mexico City (17 December 2006) - Because he became uncomfortable when Grupo Reforma published information over the possible auction of a third national network, Salinas Pliego, owner of TV Azteca, initiated a campaign of personal attacks against directors of this publishing house.
These attacks are in addition to the ones launched by this network against Isaac Saba and its partner, General Electric, both "guilty" of having demonstrated joint interest of participating in the auction for the new TV network.
To attack Grupo Reforma, TV Azteca and its sister publication, Vertigo, disseminated an account of the split in 1972, resulting from a family feud between the founders/owners of the El Sol publishing house, don Rodolfo Junco de la Vega Voigt and his wife, Maria Teresa Gomez, with their son Rodolfo Junco de la Vega Gomez.
more....
GE has also accused Azteca of using its news programs to defame it.
http://www.latimes.com/...
GE accuses Mexico's TV firms of Telemundo plot
The U.S. company says news spots vilifying it were aimed at sinking its Spanish-language unit's licensing effort.
From Reuters
December 12, 2006
MEXICO CITY — General Electric Co. lashed out Monday at a lack of competition in Mexico's broadcasting industry and said it had been vilified because of plans by its Telemundo unit to start a network in the country.
GE said in full-page ads in several Mexican dailies that Mexico's second-largest network, TV Azteca, had attacked GE on one of its news shows last week in the hope of thwarting an application by its U.S. Spanish-language television arm, Telemundo, for a broadcasting license.
"This use of the media only confirms the consensus about the need for more competition in Mexican television," said GE, a diversified conglomerate with operations that include jet engines and commercial lending.
more....
The Los Angeles Times published an editorial last Saturday, asking RightWinger Calderon to keep his promise, and establish a third national network.
http://www.latimes.com/...
Open Mexican airwaves
Newly elected President Felipe Calderon should loosen Mexico's television duopoly.
December 16, 2006
BARELY TWO WEEKS into his presidency, Mexico's Felipe Calderon faces vicious drug lords in the western state of Michoacan and questions about his legitimacy in the capital. But the greatest challenge of his first 100 days in office may be deciding what Mexicans can watch on TV.
At issue is whether to pry open the nation's television industry to competition or to continue coddling the Televisa-TV Azteca duopoly. Televisa is the largest Spanish-language media company in the world, and its channels control almost three-quarters of the Mexican market; TV Azteca, which was once government-owned, controls most of the rest. Both companies enjoy a cozy relationship with the state, and earlier this year, Mexico's Congress granted them more free space on the broadcast spectrum.
more....
What the editorial board at the LATimes did not know, or preferred to ignore, was that the new head of the Mexican equivalent of our FCC, Luis Telez (former head of Carlyle Group in Mexico, and Carlyle point person when Carlyle, in conjunction with Televisa, prepared their ultimately unsuccessful bid for Univision last summer) had already stated that no third network was in the offing.
http://www.variety.com/...
Mexico not yet ready for 3rd national net
NBC Telemundo won't be allowed to operate in country
By MICHAEL O'BOYLE
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's new administration on Friday dashed the hopes of NBC Telemundo that the government would license a third national network any time soon.
Mexico's newly appointed communications and transport minister, Luis Tellez, said the administration was committed only to examining the possibility of new TV and radio stations in certain cities -- not a third national network.
They were the first public comments on the issue by the new administration since President Felipe Calderon took office on Dec. 1. NBC Telemundo has aggressively been seeking to enter the Mexican market since 2005. Recent squabbles between the No. 2 U.S. Hispanic broadcaster and Mexican webs have sparked local debate on competition in Mexico's TV market.
more....
Why did Calderon renege? Perhaps some quid pro quo for not broadcasting the pro-AMLO demonstrations on the day of the inauguration? Again, from the LATimes editorial calling for another national network.
Yet citizens watching the ceremony on Televisa or TV Azteca saw no scenes of the chaos on the floor or of the hundreds of thousands protesting outside.
Throughout the presidential campaign, AMLO argued that TV Azteca and Televisa were using their news broadcasts to support RightWinger Calderon while simultaneously belittling his. Newspapers like Reforma ignored his charges, and columnists from those papers wrote that he was "imagining" the purported collaboration between Televisa and Azteca to undermine his campaign.
It is interesting to note that the same newspaper, on its front page, now blasts TV Azteca for engaging in the same kind of activity that it refused to acknowledge when it took place against AMLO.
Of course, at that time, Reforma had a vested interest in the efficacy of the Televisa/Azteca anti-AMLO smear campaign. The publisher of Reforma sought to retain his privileged status, including but not limited to not paying capital gains taxes and not paying his fair share of income taxes.
But now that the broadcasters have unleashed their power against Reforma, it's a different story. Makes me recall Renaults memorable quote in Casablanca: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here." Reforma is now shocked to learn that a major TV broadcaster uses its power to undermine its adversaries.
Having read this diary, and keeping in mind that very few Mexicans read newspapers (in a country with a per/capita income that is 80% less than that of the US, La Jornada or Reforma is priced at 90 cents a copy) or magazines and, consequently, receive almost all their news from Televisa and Azteca, you get a feel for how difficult it is for a Centrist / Progressive politician to thrive in that country.
Televisa and Azteca, along with RightWinger Calderon, have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. They couldn't care less about Mexico's annual 0.6% per/capita economic growth since 1982. They couldn't care less about the widening gulf between the haves and have nots. All they care about is maintaining their exemption from capital gains tax, and ensuring that the top marginal income tax rate (now 28%) continues declining.
All they care about is maintaining a mediocre and conformist Mexico, and with UltraRightWinger Calderon, whose economic policies would make even Bush blush, at the "helm", they are getting their wish.