Miami.- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed its concern this Thursday regarding a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Peru that orders the publishing company Empresa Editora El Comercio to remove three news articles published in 2014, deeming that they violate a plaintiff’s right to be forgotten, honor, and informational self-determination.
The organization, based in Miami, warned that the decision sets a worrying precedent, considering it a disproportionate measure that could affect freedom of the press and the preservation of the historical record on the internet.
The ruling declared well-founded a lawsuit filed by Lorena Bellina Schrader—then an advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture—who had been linked in said publications to the criminal organization known as the Orellana Network, based on the testimony of a witness before a Congressional investigative commission.
Subsequently, an official report did not attribute any responsibility to her. Although the media outlet incorporated updates to the notes, the Court considered them insufficient. As a consequence of that coverage, the plaintiff was dismissed from her position, according to specialized reports.
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IAPA President Pierre Manigault noted that while the impact that the dissemination of outdated information can have is not ignored, he questioned whether “the solution should have been to delete the content, instead of applying measures that limit its dissemination without eliminating it“.
He added that the decision is “excessive and potentially dangerous for freedom of the press and the recording of historical information online“.
The president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Martha Ramos, stressed that there are less restrictive alternatives, such as incorporating more visible updates, which allow for the protection of individuals without removing journalistic content.
Ramos stated that “if old content starts to be deleted, the historical record and the role of the press in monitoring issues of public interest will be weakened.”
The IAPA, a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and expression in the Americas, is made up of more than 1,300 media outlets in the region.
