The president of the PNAZuliana Lainez, denounced that there is unilateral handling of information by the Congress. After the Board of Directors denied the entry of journalists to its facilities After two years of pandemic and with the capacity restored to 100% in different spaces. In addition, he added that there is a “revanchist” spirit on the part of the parliamentarians.
This Friday, Laynes, together Augusto Alvarez Rodrich and Maria Eugenia Mohme, held a meeting with María del Carmen Alva, president of the Board of Directors. In it, journalists They requested that the media be allowed access to the rooms of Parliamentsuch as the Chroniclers’ Room, the Hall of Lost Steps and the Congress Chamber, whose access was restricted in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The president of the ANP revealed that there is agreement between parliamentarians from opposition parties against the media. “We feel that there is no political will to solve the problem and that there is an attitude that coincides with Mrs. Alva and Waldemar Cerrón. They do not want journalists to enter the hemicycle and they have told us directly”, Laynes indicated in an interview for La República.
He also announced that the fathers of the country “were willing to open the Room of Chroniclers and Lost Steps, but at this time they did not consider enabling entry to the chamber.” As he declared to this medium, the excuse is that “Journalists misinform and denigrate the image of Congress”and that the sign that the Legislature already had in the Chamber was enough.
Laynes warned that there are several journalistic functions that are being left aside because of the actions taken by the Legislature. “We are not there to see who is in the hemicycle, what are the reactions of the congressmen to these issues that are transcendental for the democratic exercise of the country. We are not doing journalism” he indicated.
Before this meeting, the Congressman Jorge Montoya He declared that Indeci had been commissioned to prepare a report to determine the capacity of the rooms that the media were allowed to enter before the pandemic. However, the union member considered that the Congress you can use it to your advantage to justify a possible refusal from the Board of Directors.
YOU CAN SEE: What activities of journalists are restricted in Congress?
According to the Board of Spokespersons, there is a good disposition to allow entry to the chamber, but they are waiting for the civil defense report, which probably says that this space does not meet the conditions for journalists to enter. It is this report that the president of the ANP considers worrying.
“For us, the pandemic does not serve as an excuse or that they are waiting for a civil defense report to see whether or not we can enter the galleries of Congress. (…) The problem is that. They are going to want to use that report to substantiate that journalists cannot enter. We have to look for other mechanisms”, she clarified.
Likewise, Zuliana Laynes warned that Congress should not be distracted thinking that by reopening the Chroniclers’ room the problem is already solved. “The activity of the Congress is in Pasos Perdidos and in the hemicycle.” The specialist considered that, with the latest measures issued by the Government, the most logical thing is to enable the spaces in Parliament. “What happens is that congressmen in these two years have felt very comfortable without the presence of journalists in these places,” Laynes explained.
This refusal to allow entry of the men and women of the press has been reflected by the president of congress and bench spokesmen like Waldemar Cerronand Jorge Montoya, who made troubling statements reflecting their positions, and both Laynes and the other meeting participants noted this.
“We assume that there is a revenge spirit because they said so. Every time we asked the reasons why access was not allowed, what they told us is that ‘they denigrate the image of Congress,’” he concluded.
A commission of media representatives met with Maria del Carmen Alva. Photo: PNA.
