libel award in Panamá

Press group criticizes
libel award in Panamá


Special to A.M. Costa Rica


A hemispheric press group Monday criticized a highly surprising court decision against Panamanian newspaper La Prensa that ordered payment of $300,000 in damages to a former public prosecutor for libel after it published official reports on her wrongdoing while in office.

The second civil circuit court Judge Miriam Cheng de Aguilar ordered La Prensa’s publishing company to pay the damages to public prosecutor Argentina Barrera for moral damages, arising from the publication Aug. 30, 2005, of two articles titled “Attorney General’s Office Continues on the Trail of Corruption” and “For Lack of Ethics Another Prosecutor is Fired.” The reports referred to the content of official press releases issued by the attorney general’s office.

Alejandro Aguirre, editor of the Miami, Florida, Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Américas, called the court ruling highly surprising because, he said, “the risk here is that a dangerous legal precedent is being set which makes the news media and journalists responsible for official information that originates from government sources.” Aguirre added, “This is a restriction and a message of censorship not only to the press and official sources but to the right that every citizen has to access official information.” He is president of the press organization, the Inter American Press Association.

The attorney general’s press release explained that Barrera was dismissed by the federal agency for “lack of ethics,” together with other legal officers whose names were also mentioned in the report published by the newspaper. In addition to quoting the press release, La Prensa’s articles included statements made by Barrera who was reinstated in 2008 on a ruling by the Supreme Court that also ordered she be paid her suspended salary.

La Prensa’s editor, Fernando Berguido, said he would appeal the court order which also includes payment of costs amounting to $50,000.