The National Radio and Television System (Sinart) has been ordered by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to temporarily remove a political propaganda video featuring Laura Fernández, the candidate of the Sovereign People’s Party (PPSO), from the social media accounts of Channel 13’s news program.
This provisional measure was issued after Sergio Castro González filed an electoral protection appeal against the state-owned company. According to the complaint, Sinart published the promotional video on September 20 without any warning that it was political content. In the video, Fernández asks for votes, claiming she is Rodrigo Chaves’s successor.
Castro argued in his appeal that Article Six of Sinart’s Organic Law prohibits the dissemination of political propaganda. He stated that “the video does not correspond to audiovisual content produced by Channel 13’s news program; it is not a journalistic article, report, interview or news broadcast. On the contrary, it is political propaganda.” Castro further claimed that his right to a free vote and fair competition had been violated.
Sinart and Channel 13’s news team have three days to respond to the TSE regarding this matter. If they do not comply with the order to remove the video, they could face charges of disobeying authority.
Recent investigations concluded that government use of Sinart has led to concentration and politicization of state advertising (“Gobierno utilizó al Sinart para concentrar y politizar la pauta estatal, concluye investigación”).
Additionally, Sinart recently dismissed 19 employees and is considering closure as an option (“Sinart despide 19 empleados y presentará cierre como una opción”).
