Troubled Ecuador a dubious choice for Assange
Sean Burges
June 25, 2012
... Ecuador is a great choice. The scenery is stunning, the food fantastic, and the people warm and welcoming. But is this enough to risk being seen as compromising the core WikiLeaks principle of press freedom? ...
Correa has since undertaken a massive and much-needed program to reshape Ecuador's political institutions, including a new constitution in 2008 that was approved by a two-thirds majority in a national vote. The end goal is laudable and needed: make the country more democratic and inclusive. Debate about Correa's ideas and the direction he is taking the country has been vibrant. Not surprisingly, the harshest criticism has come from the right, which conveniently owns the major media outlets and actively controls their editorial direction. Unfortunately, the response from Correa to opposition has been aggressive to the point where organisations such as Reporters Without Borders are raising serious questions about active government repression of the media.
One case stands out in particular. On February 6, 2011 the El Universo newspaper columnist Emilio Palacio published an inflammatory piece about Correa's response to being trapped by a violent police protest on September 30, 2010 ...
While Correa has subsequently pardoned the newspaper directors and has foregone the court-awarded damages, the case has had a chilling effect on press freedom in Ecuador. The pattern of self-censorship that has come in the wake of Correa's private legal action has been reinforced by the national broadcast regulator Supertel. In just the first six months of 2012 more than a dozen radio stations have had their licences revoked and in some cases their premises raided by police and equipment seized ...
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/troubled-ecuador-a-dubious-choice-for-assange-20120624-20w6w.html
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