The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) issued a statement to disapprove the conviction against the director and a journalist of the ABC Color newspaper, considering that “it violates inter-American principles on press freedom.” The organization warned of the possible self-censorship effect of the ruling on investigative journalism.
The pronouncement is in relation to the cCase of the director of ABC Color, Natalia Zuccolillo, and the journalist Juan Carlos Lezcano, who were sentenced on November 18 for defamation in a case promoted since 2019 by the former Minister of the Undersecretary of State for Taxation (SET) Marta González Ayala, for information published in the newspaper about alleged irregularities during the bidding process to update the tax system.
In this regard, the president of the IAPA, Michael Greenspon, global director of Printing Licensing and Innovation of The New York Times Company, of New York, United States, said: “Although we respect judicial rulings, the IAPA considers that when there is a conflict between two fundamental principles, such as freedom of the press and the protection of the reputation of officials in matters of public interest, justice must favor freedom of the press, as established by inter-American jurisprudence”.
Related note: Natalia Zuccolillo and her journalist are sentenced for defamation
In turn, the president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, said that the organization “It is very attentive to the judicial process and we trust that an appeal instance will be opened.” Jornet, journalistic director of the Argentine newspaper La Voz del Interior, also referred to the third principle of the IAPA Salta Declaration, which stresses that governments should not penalize criticism, information or protest against public officials regarding matters of public interest.
The directors of the IAPA coincided in highlighting the potential negative effect of “self-censorship and the control of public affairs” that can lead to convictions against journalists and the media for questioning officials.
The IAPA had already expressed itself last September about the “judicial harassment against” the newspaper and last April approved a resolution on the case that was also debated during the General Assembly of the organization, held in Madrid, Spain, in October-
