Nine out of ten Andalusian public aid newspapers refuse to remove sex ads

Daniel Cela 

Público.es The Government of Susana Díaz and tried last year to exclude the call for grants to sexist advertising media, but vetoed the law firm order for "non - discrimination in public competition" A year ago the regional government and he tried to restrict sexual and sexist advertising in the media by introducing criteria for promoting equality in the call for public support: the Board would give priority to the media to voluntarily withdraw its pages ads, contact and which offered vexatious image of the woman.

It did not work. Nine of the ten Andalusian headers beneficiaries refused to remove those ads that earned them more income than assumed public aid. They also ended up receiving subsidies anyway, because the selection criteria which take precedence withdrawal of sexual content "are not sufficiently exclusive," support from the Ministry of Presidency.

President Susana Díaz announced on Wednesday during the debate of State of the Andalusian, that his government would veto ads sexual content in the media. It will rescinding contracts by removing institutional advertising and media subsidies still "publish advertisements sexual contacts". "Any form of prostitution, even covertly, you can not receive a single euro from public coffers," he said. The announcement was welcomed by opposition groups, but not so easy to fulfill.

The Board already tried last year to ban the competitive tendering for public support of all means advertize sexual and sexist ads, "but the law firm stopped that order". The lawyers of the Andalusian government warned that it could incur "discrimination" between media who would qualify for subsidies, exposing themselves to a remedy in the courts, and recommended that the most appropriate to end those ads regulatory provision was to draft a law ad hoc. Or to prohibit them or to prohibit the granting of public funds to the means to support them.

The Directorate General of Social Communication, an agency of the Presidency, injected public funds to media in two ways: contracts institutional advertising and calls grants media literacy to promote reading newspaper that finance courses and activities in schools, hospitals or senior centers. Last year, it distributed 5.9 million euros in advertising contracts for the Andalusians media. The departure of media literacy was 500,000 euros.

It was in the order regulating the call for such aid where the Board tried to veto the competitive basis to the media that published sex ads. Following the contrary report of the law firm, we opted for a legal shortcut: instead of establishing exclusionary criteria, a scale that punctuate else to accept without content that discriminates against women in its pages or on radio and television programming was introduced.

Thus, the Board introduced three new endpoints: the promotion of gender equality (4 points); who had no advertising or sexist images (3 points) and did not have sexual contact ads (3 points). Of the nine headers paper presented to aid, only one-the university newspaper Aula Magna won the 10 maximum points. The rest chose to remain in breach of the criterion of sexist ads and ad contacts.

The paradox is that violating these requirements took it all points of the criteria for the promotion of gender equality and, ultimately, also prevented them access to aid, because the terms of equality and non - discrimination women have weight lower in the total count of the scale, according to the valuation report for granting subsidies means 2017, which this newspaper has had access. Those nine sexist advertising newspapers received about 80% of the aid they had requested, money with which courses gave good newspaper reading in schools, colleges and senior centers in Andalusia. Public pioneered

The formula of incentives for media companies to end these ads have been shown "insufficient" support from Presidency, which now value the option b that raised them the law firm, that is, to promote a specific law. It is the same conclusion reached by the State Council in 2007, in a report on possible action against sexual content ads and prostitution published in the media in the press. In 2010, the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero used the report to try to include the ban on ads Contact the reform of the General Law on Advertising. According to the document, more than 60% of adverts were prostitution and generated revenues to the Spanish press of 40 million euros a year.

The reform was never undertaken, because soon Zapatero would be succeeded by an executive of the PP, but adopted a Code of Advertising Conduct, asking "avoid, especially those advertisements that may be vexatious or discriminatory to women." This journal, Public, and 20 minutes were Pioner you to give up these ads from birth, ten years ago. The Junta de Andalucía has statutory powers to ban sex ads, but the handling of such a rule with all its favorables- reports takes at least two years to see the light, so that the ambitious promise of Diaz hardly see the light this legislature. In addition, it is not a new debate and it has remained outside the responsible agencies.

In 2008, the Audiovisual Council of Andalusia, extraction parliamentary body that ensures the rights of viewers, and issued a report denouncing excessive sexual and sexist advertising, as well as prostitution chat on televisions and radios Andalusian. Since then they come asking for a specific law to prohibit such content.

Still, the bulk of income received by the media -national and international- by the Andalusian government contracts do not leave institutional advertising, which manages Presidency, but the Ministry of Tourism, which manages an amount much more money for advertising, events and forums national and international promotion. All that promotion of tourism -motor andaluza- economy is likely to also be subjected to the criteria of non sexist and demeaning to women advertising, according to the commitment made by Susana Díaz in Parliament.

The Minister of Tourism and Sports, Javier Fernández, also recently announced in the House that sponsorship agreements to sign your department (sporting events like Circuit Motorcycle Jerez) include clauses requiring eliminate treatment or sexist or demeaning image for women (delivery trophy competitions).