Within the framework of the 31st World Press Freedom Day 2024 Conference, which this year takes place in Chile, The Government admitted its concern about the inequality of conditions faced by traditional media compared to large internet companies.like social networks.
At a press point, at the Gabriel Mistral Cultural Center, where the UNESCO forum is taking place, the minister spokesperson, Camila Vallejostated that “today there is no equality” in that regard.
“Digital platforms are a very large commercial activity, which have owners, which have no borders and which are not subject to the same regulations that the traditional press is subject to in each of the countries. And that creates unequal competition,” compared.
“And therefore it is something that we have been collecting, that we have been taking notes, we have had several meetings about it because we totally share that, as well as to confront the phenomenon of misinformation, We have to safeguard and protect journalists and the exercise of press freedom even more that occurs through the media, and that also happens because they do not have this inequality compared to what digital platforms or social networks are,” he explained.
Segegob has held meetings with media representatives, but still without announcements about concrete measures.
The International Broadcasting Association (AIR) raised the day before in Cooperative the need for large web platforms, such as the giants Meta (parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Google, to be regulated in terms of the journalistic content they distribute and, within these rules, to remunerate the media that generate it .
In 2021, Australia became the first country in the world to pass a law for Google and Facebook (Meta) to pay local media for the publication of their journalistic content.
OTHER FORUMS
One of the forums addressed during this day was about climate misinformation in South Americain which they talked about how to face the fake news around the advance of climate change.
Likewise, a panel called Infotactics was developed in the year of the super elections, in which The fight to regain trust in the media was raised.
DEMONSTRATION DURING SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT
During this ceremony, President Gabriel Boric made a speech that was interrupted by a group of people demanding “justice for Francisca Sandoval”, community media reporter Signal3 La Victoria who died after being injured in the middle of the march on May 1, 2022.
Regarding this situation, Benjamin Lillowho led the demonstration, explained that they demand justice and “a real investigation of our colleague’s casethat all aspects of the matter be investigated, since here only the person who caused the impact is being investigated.”
“Here there are responsibilities of the Carabineros, there are responsibilities of the Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation, because here nine people shot at an authorized demonstration. For us that is a terrorist attack anywhere in the world“he accused.
Finally, he pointed out that “neither the Government nor the Prosecutor’s Office has taken it that way, nor has the role of the Carabineros been investigated, which is essential to repel an attack.”
