Senator Raúl Lozano rejected this Wednesday the decision of the president of Antel, Gabriel Gurméndez, to cancel the signal of the Russian media RT from the transmission of Vera TV, days after the war between the Soviet country and Ukraine broke out.
“We always understand that it is good (…) to listen to the different bells, with which we do not agree with that cut because we are supporters of freedom at its best and we all have the right to listen,” he said at a press conference.
Although Cabildo Abierto condemned the order of military invasion of Vladimir Putin, Lozano pointed out that restricting the Russian screen medium violates the “freedom of expression” promoted by the Constitution of the Republic: “In these armed conflicts, when one of the parties speaks, he speaks in one sense, and when another speaks, he speaks in another. So, the search for the truth often goes down the middle path and not only with informing in one direction”.
And he pointed out: “We understand that freedom of expression is at stake here and the resolution to cut off the transmission of the medium really caught our attention. Beyond the fact that we do not agree with what it transmits, we do believe that it has to have the wide freedom to express themselves.
The decision of the Uruguayan entity was communicated this Tuesday, via Twitter. “We have just instructed that the broadcast on Vera TV of the Russian signal RT be immediately suspended” said Gurméndez, who maintained that this channel is “in the service of propaganda and justification for Russia’s violent military invasion of Ukraine,” Gurmendez wrote..
The definition was taken personally by Gurméndez, who communicated it via WhatsApp to the rest of the directory. So he told The Observer Antel’s vice president, Robert Bouvier, who approved the measure.
Despite disagreeing, Lozano clarified from his sector that no proposals will be made to dismiss the order.
The Broad Front also reacted with alarm to the definition. “This is nothing more than censorship of a media outlet,” said to The Observer Senator Alejandro Sanchez. “And censoring a media outlet should always be questioned.” Much more, he pointed out, when the censorship starts from the president of a company, without consulting the Executive Power or Parliament, without a debate in between and, in addition, announcing it on social networks.
