televised political debates

 T-484/94. TELEVISED POLITICAL DEBATES

A citizen, acting on behalf of Antonio Navarro Wolff (adducing the figure of “verbal mandate”) presented acción de tutela against the newscasts Q.A.P y C.M.&., for presumptively violating the fundamental rights to equality, the right to use on equal conditions the electromagnetic spectrum, the right to information as well as the right to participate in the conformation, exercise and control of the political power, this by excluding some of the presidential candidates of a televised debate that was broadcasted on those channels. To solve the allegations of the plaintiff, this Tribunal studied the role of the freedom of press on the Political Constitution; the scope of the freedom of expressing thoughts and opinions, referring to the journalists; the freedom established for the mass media; the relation between the journalist and the public opinion, and the relation between the journalist and the candidates to popular election charges. After taking those matters into consideration, the Court concluded that there wasn’t any violation of the fundamental rights of the presidential candidate Navarro Wolf, because he can’t, nor the other presidential candidates, dispose freely of the newscasts or the spaces of opinion that the State grants, or imposed them certain obligations related to their way of executing their tasks.