Is There Freedom of the Press in Spain?
Baltasar Garzón
The Spanish on-line paper El Plural is reporting a rather shocking story from Madrid.
“The State Secretariat of Information has decided that the news conference planned for next week by the Circle of Foreign Correspondents in Spain with former judge Baltasar Garzón “is not appropriate” (“no es idóneo”), and it has denied permission for the Circle to use a room that is customarily made available to the associations and NGOs housed in the government’s International Press Center. “This is an grave attempt to censor us and to interfere with our work” the president of the Circle, Hans Guenter Kellner told elplural.com. He expressed shock at this decision, which reflects very poorly on the respect that Mariano Rajoy’s government has for the free flow of information, and conjures up memories of very dark times when government censorship was the order of the day.”
The event, of course, will be held elsewhere, and will almost certainly attract even more media attention and press coverage, given the attempted censorship of the Spanish government.
This restriction of freedoms seems to be a trend that is increasing globally at an alarming rate. Governments, even those based on liberal republican values, are finding more ways to restrict the free expression of their opponents, almost always in violation of their own human rights laws. This is similar to the Republican Party of the United States’ attempt to disenfranchise groups that typically vote for the Democratic Party through the use of voter identification cards due to the inventive means by which these agents of the government circumvent established freedoms.
Spain it seems has failed to learn from it’s dark past, censorship should not be tolerated in a democratic state. Picking and choosing what is “appropriate” to say aloud is detrimental to a democratic country.
This is an obvious attempt to censor the press. I can imagine that this really hits home for many spaniards, considering their recent past under a fascist regime. It was not long ago that Spain was under rule of a totalitarian government, where censorship was nothing of a shock, rather it was expected. To the think that a country that has come out of such past must now experience similar limitations of freedom under a democratic government is horrendous. This cannot be accepted.