Guiding Principles on government advertising (II)
As we continue to advance to the 2010 Report of the Rapporteur Special for Freedom of Expression American Commission of Human Rights of the OAS in the chapter on the guiding principles of advertising. On this last note manifested report on other concepts around the 8 principles or guidelines listed in the previous note.
I - The first principle on the "establishment of special laws, clear and precise", the Special Rapporteur said: "The multitude of reported cases prove the widespread nature of the alleged indirect violations freedom of expression. These potential indirect violations are promoted by the lack of legal provisions provide adequate resources to address the discriminatory allocation of official publicity, as this legal vacuum leads to excessive discretionary powers by the authorities who make decisions on the matter. " Moreover, "good practices, informal mechanisms, regulation defective or scattered, and, in general, the application of general rules of recruitment for the purpose of reducing the discretion and abuses of state guidelines are not sufficient to prevent violations of freedom of expression. "
The legal framework should include a comprehensive description of its scope, which should incorporate public bodies at all levels of government, including those belonging to the Executive, Legislative, Judicial, the bodies created by the constitutions or other laws, as well as decentralized agencies, authorities autarky, commercial companies with state capital, and any other legal entity that advertises with money from the public treasury, as state enterprises.
II - About Legitimate objectives of official advertising claims that in a democratic society citizens have a right to know, that is, to learn the official activities of government policies and services provided by the State , so the Rapporteur said that "the use of media to convey information is an important and useful tool for States" and therefore "must provide information at least in terms of: (a) the structure, functions and operating and investment budget of the State, (b) the information required for the exercise of other rights-for example, regards the satisfaction of the rights social and pension rights, health or education, (c) the provision of services, benefits, grants or contracts of any kind, and (d) the procedure for filing complaints or queries, if any. This information must be complete, understandable, accessible language and be updated. " The information communicated by official warnings should be clear and not be deceptive, ie should not mislead recipients or be used for purposes other than legitimate and nondiscriminatory communication with the public.
III - On the criteria of distribution of state guideline states: "Governments and public bodies should never abuse their custody of public finances to try to influence the content of the information media, the advertising spot should be based on market considerations. " The award criteria should include and evaluate various factors, such as the profile of the audience it is intended for the campaign, pricing, circulation or hearing of the respective medium. Measurements should include details of small, local community and to its use as a tool for the award does not become an indirect barrier to the exercise of freedom of expression. The "exclusion of the media community or alternative distribution of the advertising budget for the mere fact of working under non-commercial criteria is unacceptable discrimination within the parameters of the American Convention ."
IV - About appropriate Planning added that "the lack of planning favors misuse of official advertising to increase the discretion in the hands of officials who have the power to distribute. "
V - On the Mechanisms of contracting states: "The transparency in recruitment processes is essential so that they can be questioned when irregularities are found, for which the governing law should provide resources administrative and legal, appropriate and effective .... In the design of procedures should address the geographic and market characteristics of each jurisdiction. " He adds that all contracts should be approved, ultimately, by public officials whose conduct technical training and decisions are liable to administrative and judicial control.
VI - Transparency and access to information: "First, you must periodically publish all relevant information about recruitment criteria, the basis of allocation, budgets, expenditures and advertising contracts, including amounts of advertising discriminated by media, advertising and contracting agencies. Second, he must ensure, before each call from the general public easy access to information. .... The entities private should be aware that by participating in the procurement of government advertising, some information strictly related to the recruitment process that might otherwise be considered private, becomes public. ... Must be made public all the information to respond to how, the what, the how and why they made any advice or statewide campaign. "
VII - External control of the advertising allowance is "must establish mechanisms for external control by an independent body that allow comprehensive monitoring of the allocation of government advertising. .. To ensure greater transparency on these inspections, the reports of the supervisory bodies should be also be public and available to all citizens through the Internet. "
VIII - The pattern on Pluralism and advertising information stressed that the State must "promote media pluralism. They must take steps to make markets in which media operate open, plural, diverse, and not concentrated, adding that "whether used tax breaks, funding systems, grant aid or contest, or other mechanism for promoting pluralism, provided the allocation procedures must be fair, open, public and use clear, transparent and neutral in relation to the editorial or political approach to the contents, so as to avoid any kind of arbitrary .... In particular, (i) must be regulated by special regulations, clear and precise, (ii) to obey legitimate targets public and transparent, (iii) having the criteria of objective and non discriminatory distribution, (iv) obey a careful planning, (v) allocation procedures have clear, open, transparent and non discriminatory, (vi) have external and independent mechanisms of audit and control. "
As you can see are very useful recommendations, especially when the advertising is always generated controversy, particularly at the political level and not always without reason. Information is key to growth as a citizen and people.
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