A Right to Media? Lorie M. Graham - Columbia Law School

2010] A RIGHT TO MEDIA? 503
communities in the community and national media.” 309 The program
garnered praise and funding from UNESCO’s International
Programme for the Development of Communications because of its
innovative approach to creating informational spaces for indigenous
communities in national and local media, as well as improving the
quality of information being delivered regarding those
communities. 310
More recently, Uruguay undertook a broader initiative in the
adoption of a new community media law, the Community
Broadcasting Bill, which stipulates that a third of the available radio
frequencies must be assigned to community media, which is made up
of mostly small radio and television stations. 311 Under this new law,
community media will have sixty days from the date the law takes
effect to register with the Regulatory Union of Community Services
and become candidates to receive a legal frequency. 312 The law
defines community radio and television stations as “services of public
interest, independent of the state, provided by non-profit civil society
organisations” with the aim of “satisfying the communication needs”
of the country’s citizens and “exercising their right to news and
information and freedom of expression.” 313 Innovatively, the law
licenses frequencies in an “open, transparent and public” fashion
instead of at the government’s discretion, as was previously the
practice. 314 This law has the potential to benefit many indigenous-run
community media forms and outlets by allowing access to official
licensing and increasing the range of the program. 315
309. Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC, 26th Session, Mar. 26–28.
2008, Implementation Reports on Projects Approved and Financed in 2005–2007,
108, U.N. Doc. CI-08/CONF 202/1 (Mar. 16, 2008).
310. Id.
311. Reporters Without Borders, Annual Report 2008-Uruguay 1 (2008),
available at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/47b418be28.html; New
Community Media Law Gets Final Approval From Parliament, Reporters
Without Borders, Dec. 14, 2007, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24760.
312. New Community Media Law Gets Final Approval From Parliament,
supra note 311.
313. Id.; Reporters Without Borders, supra note 311.
314. New Community Media Law Gets Final Approval From Parliament,
supra note 311; Reporters Without Borders, supra note 311.
315. Reporters Without Borders, supra note 311; New Community Media
Law Gets Final Approval From Parliament, supra note 311. This bill, however,
does not address a major obstacle to media rights throughout Latin America:
concern over the safety of those reporting on indigenous issues. See, e.g., Diego
Cevallos, Murder of Reporters Highlight Indigenous Divisions, Inter Press Serv.,