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In this country from which the right to pluralism of information and opinion was taken away – one of the many rights violated since September 1973 -, there are still no ones who are serious about overcoming the current embarrassing circumstances in which only the decisions taken are known. The power of money.
The press that exists these days – all belonging to the duopoly El Mercurio – Copesajust as in the dictatorship – is elitist and does not reflect the needs of the street, social demonstrations and citizen demands, and in its pages there are no signs of democracy or indications of equity – which oligarchic interests left in the past.
Although there are those who gargle with pluralism and freedom of the press and expression, the truth is that these invaluable values are not there today, they were “disappeared” by State terrorism, they have been relegated by the anti-popular system and were far from the reach of the population that needs to be properly informed.
The acrimonious emergence of the National Press Association into the political sphere surprises citizens because the fact that could justify it has not been taken into account: the early end of uninformed Chile, a painful situation that has affected the country since the first day of the military-business dictatorship, that is, 50 years ago.
It seems that the current panorama accommodates this employer entity, since at present there is no independent written media that reaches the entire Chilean territory with an analytical sense that questions at least the neoliberal model that translates into abuses and inequalities that overwhelm people without resources.
Recently the ANP has attempted to give a master class on freedom of expression to the President of the Republic and the entire citizenry, without considering that due to its track record this group of media owners lacks the authority to do so and does not have credibility in the eyes of public opinion.
The ANP attacked President Boric with aversion due to a brief comment he made about the editorial line of The Mercury, The Third and The Second. Taking advantage of the situation, the Mercurial Association accused the president of violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed in 1948. He acted as always supported by the Inter-American Press Association, IAPA, and other foreign businessmen who are unknown here.
More than Boric’s recent words, the animosity against him comes from the moment in which the current head of state has vindicated the work and example of President Salvador Allende and deployed a policy of defense of human rights, against denialism and impunity, adding the “National Search Plan for Detainees Disappeared during Dictatorship.” None of this was talked about in the 30 years that followed the tyranny, when the two rights alternated in La Moneda, bringing tranquility to business organizations and keeping only the journalistic duopoly standing.
Previously, the mercurial executives of the ANP had been irritated by the note that the president wrote on social networks on the occasion of the anniversary of the military coup. There he stated: «Pinochet was a dictator, an anti-democrat, whose government killed, tortured, exiled and made those who thought differently disappear. He was corrupt and a thief, and cowardly to the end he did everything in his power to evade justice. Never a statesman.”
Boric paid tribute to the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón who ordered the arrest of Pinochet in London in 1998 and a few months ago ordered the creation of a Commission against Disinformation, which upset the Press Association. This commission is a power that the Executive Branch has and is made up of journalists, academics, lawyers, researchers and experts in the defense and promotion of fundamental rights.
The statement issued in response by the employers’ group was nothing more than another contradiction in the face of their actions and omissions invariably directed against the popular classes that seek the truth that they cannot find in the newspapers that circulate nationally. Exclusively these belong to the duopoly controlled by the oligarchy.
Among the half-truths, total lies, alterations, distortions and voluntary omissions, the ANP forgot that on the same day of the coup d’état the military troops assaulted, destroyed and burned the premises of the four newspapers that supported the popular government and that were read throughout Chile. Clarín, El Siglo, Puro Chile and Última Hora They were punished with disappearance, they left the competition of the Pinochet newspapers and there was no “freedom of expression” for them. The situation has remained unchanged for five decades.
In so much time that has passed, the country fell into a frightening inequality. There is news that is published as far as possible and it seems that the confrontation of ideas that was frequent through the media until the day before the criminal coup has definitively ended. The mainstream press does not leave its self-assigned role of being a “sentinel” of a democracy in which objectivity is simulated and has the power to turn what is false into true.
Without pluralism and opportunities for all, it will be difficult to recover values as precious as freedom of the press and freedom of expression. If there are no structural changes that allow us to restore a true, egalitarian and participatory democracy, the oppressive institutionality that overwhelms the great majorities will continue to be consolidated.
Hugo Alcayaga Brisso
Valparaiso
The opinions expressed in this section are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the thoughts of the newspaper El Clarín
