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Alert

Court fines radio station for ignoring its order to withdraw election commentary from Web page

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 19 October 2006, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Superior Electoral, TSE) of Brazil fined CBN radio station nearly US$10,000 for disseminating the comment of one of its columnists about an electoral debate, which presented one of the presidential candidates in an unfavorable light, something prohibited by law. [The court had earlier ordered the station to withdraw the commentary from its web page.]

The court also reiterated its order that the radio station withdraw the commentary from its web page. The TSE, presided by Judge Ari Pargendler, had earlier ruled that the opinion of columnist Arnaldo Jabor favored presidential candidate Geraldo Alckim of the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, to the detriment of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, running for re-election for the Workers' Party (Partido de los Trabajadores, PT). The TSE had also declared the request of Da Silva's political alliance "La Fuerza del Pueblo" to be well-founded.

The TSE based its ruling on the Electoral Law which forbids the media from giving an opinion for or against a candidate, party or political coalition as of June of the electoral year. The second round of the elections will take place on 29 October.

This alert was prepared by IPYS with information provided by the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, ABRAJI).