Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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Free press
Puerto Rican paper struggles against boycott
Despite loss of advertising and government pressure
on a sister company, El Nuevo Día expands investigative team
By Luis A. Ferré-Rangel and María Luisa Ferré-Rangel
1997 has been an interesting year in San Juan, but who wants to live
in interesting times?
In April, the governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Rossello ordered the cancellation
of all government advertising in El Nuevo Día, following a series
of articles that showed the lax management and supervision in some of the
public agencies, such as the Puerto Rico Telephone Authority, the Puerto
Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and the Treasury Department.
At that time, ASNE supported El Nuevo Día by denouncing Rossello’s
actions. President Sandy Rowe wrote to the governor, in part, "ASNE urges
you to immediately rescind this misguided decision. An attempt to intimidate
the free press through an economic boycott or any other means is obviously
inconsistent with the American ideas of a free and independent press."
Since April, the Puerto Rican government has not returned its advertising
to the newspaper, but we do not believe that is the crux of the matter.
A small, powerful group of advisers to the governor has devised a strategy
to pressure the newspaper and its affiliated businesses.
The target of the government is now Puerto Rican Cement, a publicly
traded company 30 percent owned by our family, who also owns El Nuevo Día.
Since June, the company has been investigated systematically by five
different government agencies. The result has been the paralysis of two
key diversification projects: a limestone quarry and a housing development.
The company’s cement plant has also been inspected several times. All
the while the government has been allowing into Puerto Rico low-quality
imported cement that does not meet standards.
As a public company, Puerto Rican Cement has a fiduciary responsibility
to stockholders and conducts its business entirely within the law. But
local bureaucrats, following orders from above, are experts at manipulating
the structure and have been able to stall key projects and force PRC’s
management to be distracted with what we consider a witch hunt.
El Nuevo Día, has taken the government to court because it denied
access to public documents on the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority.
While we were fighting in court for these documents, the authority gave
them to El Vocero, which published a soft article on the subject. Their
source not only provided documents, but a report on the documents, because
we were publishing thousands of complaints on broken pipes. Meanwhile,
we got the documents, all 2,000 of them in raw data form. It was a victory
for us, of sorts.
Access to top officials is harder than ever. We are often asked to submit
questions in writing and our requests are leaked to neutralize our exclusives.
A smear campaign has begun by government employees who display bumper
stickers throughout San Juan with the message. "No compre El Nuevo Día,"
— "Don’t buy El Nuevo Día."
In light of this, we have modified our editorial strategy and are being
more forceful but still careful on how we go about investigating our stories
and how fast we publish them. We have also increased our investigative
team to five members and hired three new reporters. This was something
already in the works, but we accelerated the plans.
In legal terms, we are devising a strategy to defend our rights.
Meanwhile we continue investigating. Recently, we showed that the governor’s
press secretary has been accused of political persecution 17 times (some
border on sexual harassment) but 16 cases have been attended to administratively.
One, though, has been able to make it to the local courts.
We are convinced that the best strategy is to produce the best product
we possibly can every day, always with the readers’ and clients’ needs
in mind. That is our best weapon.
Luis A. Ferré-Rangel and Maria Luisa Ferré-Rangel are
co-editors of El Nuevo Día, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
