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Alert

Radio journalist fired, his programme cancelled, for refusing to cease critical reporting on Loreto municipality's administration

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 17 February 2007, journalist Daniel Arriola Apuela's programme "Punto Clave", broadcast by Radio Nauta radio station, was cancelled by station owner Nino Soria Arévalo, after the journalist refused to cease criticizing the work of the mayor and of various other municipal officials of Loreto, a rural municipality located northeast Peru.

Arriola Apuela recorded his conversation with Soria, and allowed IPYS to listen to the tape. During the conversation the station owner said that the programme's continuation was conditional on the journalist not commenting further on the way the municipality was being run. To bolster his argument, Soria referred to the advertising contract that the municipal government has with the radio station. When the journalist refused to agree to the owner's request, he was dismissed, despite the fact that his contract runs until 30 April; his programme was also cancelled.

IPYS believes that this case demonstrates that advertising contracts between public bodies and the media can directly or indirectly impose conditions on media outlets' editorial positions, leading to self-censorship or the arbitrary firing of journalists.