OPINION: Presidential Credibility

In a democracy, the main function of a communication medium is to monitor the exercise of power and the use of public resources. However, when those who exercise that power do not understand this function, such surveillance is punished with obstacles to access to information and the award of state advertising contracts. In past administrations, this medium has suffered similar manipulations, but we hoped that this would change with this government, as President Laurentino Cortizo promised to do so when he signed, just five months ago, the Declaration of Chapultepec. In its seventh principle, this document declares that “the granting or suppression of state advertising” should not be applied to reward or punish media or journalists. This is exactly what Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo seems to be doing. The ministry that he directs has just awarded millionaire advertising contracts for 2021. And it has done so unequally and unfairly. Mi Diario, perhaps the one with the highest circulation in the country among printed matter, was assigned zero advertising. Instead of scope, audience and circulation, arbitrariness prevailed. Carrizo has ignored a commitment made by Cortizo. And with this, he has eroded a little more what remained of the President’s credibility.LA PRENSA, Apr. 6