Bolivian President Evo Morales is planning to launch a state-run daily newspaper later this month which would act as a counterbalance to the "anti-government" local media, Reuters has reported.
"The state's going to have its own newspaper and I've told the media team that we should launch it on January 22," Morales was quoted as saying by the official news agency ABI on Sunday. During a radio interview, Morales accused some Bolivian media of attacking his administration and said the nascent newspaper will be charged with "gathering the truth," ABI reported. January 22 will mark Morales' third anniversary at the helm of South America's poorest country.
The Reuters report said: [Link]
Morales, a close ally of Venezuela's fiery leftist president, Hugo Chavez, frequently criticizes local media. Last month, he threatened to stop giving news conferences for local journalists. He says almost all of Bolivia's newspapers and broadcast networks strive to taint his image and has scorned reporters for being the puppets of media owners he says are aligned with the rightist opposition.
The National Association of Journalists said late last year that some Morales' comments against the media amounted to "verbal abuse."
Morales is also planning to launch a television station representing trade, farming and mining unions and the indigenous groups that form his power base, ABI said. It said Bolivia's allies Venezuela and Iran would help set up the station.
The impoverished Bolivian state already runs a news agency, a television station, a weekly paper and a network of radio stations.
