In the interview he gave to The Observeramong other considerations and after a timely consultation, Gerardo Sotelo once again referred to the dismissal of journalist Wilson Méndez in the program “Vamos que Vamos” on Radio Uruguay. He defined Méndez as “propagandist of a sector of his club (Peñarol)”.
Sotelo, director of the National Audiovisual Communication Service (Secan), had admitted that it was he who decided to untie Méndezbecause he “violated” the rules of the radio and “the most elementary principles of journalism” by being an “activist” and “part” of Peñarol.
In the aforementioned interview, when Sotelo was reminded of that decision and told that he was still an authority on duty influencing the work of a journalist, he replied: “Not at all. It’s not even to discuss. in journalism you cannot be a union leader and union reporter, you cannot be a deputy and cover your party. It doesn’t exist anywhere.”
On whether it was up to him to make the decision and what guarantees exist that this political authority does not make other decisions, Sotelo indicated: “It is that they must be based on general principles. Here there was a violation of those principles as big as a piano. You have to be able to explain it, and here it is irrefutable, there are no two opinions about it. Wilson in all his rights is a propagandist for a sector of his club (Peñarol), which in that area disqualifies him from practicing journalism, although he could be an economics, political or fashion journalist.”.
Méndez, after the decision, in one of his tweets expressed: “I will continue fighting for what I think, as do many colleagues who care about Peñarol. Those who censor, continue to be afraid, they are cowards”.
