Government advertising has been a huge topic of debate for the Latin American region in recent years. Journalists and media freedom groups in the region have raised concerns around the use of unregulated government advertising as a form of “soft censorship” to manipulate editors, owners, and journalists. In 2018, a new act on Social Communication (Ley General de Comunicación Social) was passed in Mexico. The law is now undergoing a period of legal reform with the aim of guaranteeing freedom of expression and access to information. In view of this, the aim of this report is to identify best practices that can form the basis of good regulation in Mexico as well as to analyse the current situation around government advertising in the Latin American region.
TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation's global pro bono service, connected Article 19 Mexico and Central America with law firms in Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Uruguay to produce legal research on the legal framework and case law of government advertising as well as the international standards applicable to this topic.
We are grateful for the valuable contributions of Bruchou, Fernández Madero & Lombardi; Cervieri Monsuárez & Asociados; Despacho ECIJA Honduras; ECIJA Integrum; Estudio Echecopar; Ritch Mueller y Nicolau, S.C.; and Sánchez-Labrador & López Martínez, S.C.