TV Azteca tests election ad laws

IFE will decide on fining the broadcaster

By JAMES YOUNG

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's Federal Elections Board (IFE) will decide Friday whether to fine TV Azteca, the nation's No. 2 broadcaster, nearly $495,000 for breaking rules passed last fall banning TV ads paid for by political parties.

The new reforms also force TV nets and radio stations to run political ads for free at certain times, derailing a multimillion-dollar gravy train for broadcasters.

TV Azteca ran the spots at least 15 times between March 12 and 25 inviting people to a demonstration in the capital's central plaza led by failed left-wing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to protest proposed energy reforms.

The ads were paid for by the Broad Progressive Front, which formed from the ashes of a coalition between three parties that backed Lopez Obrador's 2006 campaign.

TV Azteca say that the org is not an officially recognized political party, and therefore the IFE procedures do not apply. However, many in local media believe that TV Azteca ran the spots to test the strength of the new laws as well as IFE's determination in enforcing them.

When the reforms were debated in October and November, TV and radio congloms presented a rarely seen united front in opposition, crying foul over a perceived breech in freedom of speech.

Mexico holds a general congressional election and a presidential election every six years. The last major election in 2006 saw political advertising, largely subsidized by public coffers, soar into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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