Ecuador’s contentious new news media law  killed the country’s only news magazine by creating restrictions that threatened to strangle a free press. “We cannot accept in silence that the government should determine the topics and agendas that we can cover, all freedom of information  should be regulated, inspected and that a superintendent chosen by the president should stand as executioner to penalize.”  said owner and publisher of the magazine Vanguardia and newspaper La Hora, Francisco Vivanco.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/world/americas/in-ecuador-a-magazines-death-comes-amid-questions.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world
The law sets restrictions on the coverage of court cases, creates government bodies with wide powers to regulate and penalize journalists, and bans the publication of personal communications, including e-mails and conversations.Beyond penalties for publishing or broadcasting material that harms a person’s reputation or honor, the law prohibits something called media lynching, which it defines as the publication of material intended to reduce someone’s prestige or credibility.
Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, regularly rails at the press, accusing it of being biased against him and urging his followers not to read newspapers. He has frequently disputed television news reports and complained to newspapers about articles, headlines or, in at least one case, a cartoon, demanding corrections. Critics say he has created a climate in which journalists feel intimidated.
“Vanguardia represented a breath of air in an environment that was becoming more and more asphyxiating, where nearly the totality of media outlets have stopped doing investigative journalism,” said Juan Carlos Calderón, the magazine editor. With the silencing of Vanguardia, he said, “the country loses the possibility of having a different version than the official version.”
“Telling the truth, that’s the good press. Lies, that’s the bad press. There’s no room for confusion there.”