MR ZAPATERO DENIES TRYING TO CONTROL SPAIN'S MEDIA.

• Position: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero - Brief Article

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero argued on January 10 that despite widespread criticism of Catalonia for adopting control mechanisms, there was never question of "controlling" the reliability of information broadcast by the media. The government has no intention of implementing a "body to observe, analyse, or evaluate the authenticity of the content of the communications media" said Mr Zapateron during a breakfast press conference on the proposed State Audiovisual Council, the bill for which is being written up by the cabinet. He refused however to comment on the law, recently adopted by the Catalonian council whereby regional branches of the Audiovisual Council will be permitted to impose fines on, or even close, audiovisual bodies found guilty of transmitting "fictitious" information.

These measures were severely criticised...