Today’s Good News: Mexico Gets Free Airtime For Candidates
You all probably remember the bitterly contested Presidential election in Mexico last year, which the right-wing candidate won by a whisker. You may not know that winner Calderon was aided and abetted by American political consultants who, naturally, unleashed the biggest barrage of attack ads in Mexican history. Here’s the good - no, great news: Blowback from that election has now resulted in a key electoral reform that we in the US can only dream of - free airtime for candidates. Michael Eisenmenger passed on the news that the ” Mexican Congress approved (9/12) a bill that requires broadcasters to provide up to 48 minutes a day freely to political parties for the purposes of running federal campaign ads. Parties cannot buy additional time, and are limited to time equal to what other parties receive.” A Reuters article on the subject adds: “Broadcasters will have to give three minutes of every hour between 6 a.m. and midnight free to political parties for airing spots during federal campaigns.” Say WHAT?! Every hour, including prime time? All parties equal? Wow. Of course the media companies don’t like it - one huffed that it was “Soviet-style politics” - but it seems to be going forward.
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