Media Law: Now the lawsuits

Following the constitutional flaws spotted in the media law enacted yesterday morning by the Senate, and passed in record time by Cristina Kirchner, representatives of the opposition parties warned of the billionaire cost the spate of lawsuits - that the measure would unleash - will mean for the exchequer.

The province of San Luis will submit an injunction directly to the Supreme Court and the holders of TV licenses, cables, radios and civil associations, are already considering  presenting injuctions and other demands across the country.

At dawn yesterday, the Senate approved the bill in particular and with unusual promptness the bill, which bears the number 26,522, was published in a special edition of the Official Gazette. The chief of staff, Anibal Fernandez, dismissed the court filings because, he said, “they lack of grounds.”

However, experts believe that the licenses are authorizations which aren’t unstable and similarly to a granting, they confer entitlements and give the licensees the right to compensation.

The head of the Radical Party, Gerardo Morales, had deemed Article 161 of the project to be “inapplicable” during the debate, maintaining that it would trigger a rash of legal disputes. The article sets a year to dispose of the licenses legally obtained and which do not fall under the new standard. “They made a botch-up that creates legal uncertainty. Then the media will go to courts, the Court, to the chamber, lower courts and the government will lose and the law will not be able to apply,” he said yesterday when closing a rally in Rosario.

That article in particular was the one to get the smallest advantage: it got passed with 38 votes against 28, plus the abstention of the Cobist Dora Maria Sanchez, who supported the official project over a shocking change of political position, as she initially rejected the bill. Thanks to the exchange of votes with other senators, including Carlos Salazar from Tucuman and two from Tierra del Fuego responding to the Governor Fabiana Rios, plus the ”containment” with a menu of promises from critical areas of their own party, the Kirchnerism succeeded in imposing the law in general by 44 to 24 votes.