Argentina Passes Law, Looks Inward for Media Ownership

The bill allocates two-thirds of the broadcast spectrum to non-commercial stations, limits the number of licenses any one company can hold, and promotes Argentine-made content.

Since the return to democracy in 1983, civil society had been demanding new legislation to replace a dictatorship-era law under which a handful of companies have immense power over the media. Hundreds of human rights groups, community radio stations, universities and other civil society bodies joined together in the "Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting" to advocate a new law that would contain 21 specific points guaranteeing the right to communication and information.