M e x i c o

2. SPECIFIC PRESS LAWS

The Print Law of 1917 states the following:

Article 1: ?Violation of privacy is:

I.   Any malicious manifestation or expression made verbally or by signs in the presence of one or more persons, or in a hand-written or printed document, in a drawing, lithograph, photograph or by any other means that is exposed or circulated publicly, or sent by mail, telegraph, telephone, radio-telegraph or message, or in any other way that exposes a person to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or could cause him loss of reputation or harm his interests;

II.   Any malicious manifestation or expression made in the terms and by any of the means mentioned in the previous paragraph against the memory of a deceased person with the objective or intent of damaging the honor or the public reputation of his surviving heirs and descendants;

III.  Any report, coverage or record of civil or criminal court proceedings when they refer to false information or the true facts are distorted to cause harm to someone or, with the same objective, to appraisals that are not rationally merited by the true facts;

IV. In the event that a publication expressly prohibited under the law compromises a person?s reputation, exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule or causing him to suffer damage to his reputation or his personal or financial interests.?

Article 2. ?An offense against morality is:

I.   Any manifestation of words, in writing or by any other of the means mentioned in Paragraph 1 of the previous Article, by which are publicly excused, recommended or propagated vices, shortcomings or crimes, or they or their authors are defended;

II.   Any manifestation made in speeches, proclamations, expositions, representations or by any other of those means listed in Paragraph 1 of Article 2 that violate or publicly offend modesty, decency or good habits or incites to prostitution or the practice of licentious or immodest acts, that is, all those acts that in the public mind are regarded as contrary to modesty;

III.  Any distribution, sale or exposition to the public in any way, be it through writings, brochures, printed matter, songs, recordings, books, images, announcements, cards or other papers or forms, paintings, drawings or lithographs of an obscene nature or that portray lewd acts.?

Article 3: ?An attack on public order or peace is:

I.   Any malicious manifestation or exposition made in a speech, proclamation, song, threat, hand-written or printed document, drawing, lithograph, photograph, motion picture, recording or in any other way that has the objective of discrediting, ridiculing or destroying the country?s fundamental institutions, or that cause harm to the Mexican nation or the political entities that it comprises;

II.   Any manifestation or expression made publicly by any of the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph that directly or indirectly recommend, incite or provoke the Army to disobedience, rebellion, desertion or failure to carry any of their duties, that recommends, provokes or directly incites the general public to anarchy, mutiny, sedition, rebellion or to break the law or contravene the legitimate orders of the authorities, that causes harm to the country?s leaders with the aim of arousing hatred, contempt or ridicule of them, or that attacks with the same intent government bodies, the Army or National Guard or their members by reason of their duties, that causes harm to friendly nations, their heads of state and government or their legitimate representatives in the country, or that recommends, incites or provokes the commission of a given crime;

III.  The publication or propagation of false or adulterated news on current events liable to disrupt the peace or tranquility of the Republic or any part thereof, or to cause the rise or fall in the prices of goods or to damage the credit of the Nation or of any State or Municipality or of the legally incorporated banks;

IV. Any publication prohibited under the law or by the authorities in the public interest or done before the law permitted it the public to be made aware of it.?

Article 4: ?In the case of the three previous Articles, a manifestation or expression is considered malicious when the terms in which it is couched are offensive or when it necessarily implies the intent to offend.?

Article 5: ?A manifestation or expression is not considered malicious, even when its terms are offensive because of their very significance, in those cases expressly excepted by law and when the accused proves that the facts imputed about the complainant are true or there are well-founded reasons to regard them as true and they were published with honest intentions.?

Article 6: ?In no case shall criticism of a public official or employee be considered unlawful if the facts attributed to him are true and the conclusions reached as a result are rational and consequential, so long as it does not contain slanderous words or phrases.?

Article 7: ?In the cases set out in Articles 1, 2 and 3 of this law, the manifestations or expressions shall be considered to be public utterances if they are made in the streets, town squares, promenades, theaters or other public places, or in private places but in a manner such that they may be observed, seen or heard by the public.?

Article 8: ?It is understood that incitement to anarchy is when there is incitement to theft, murder, destruction of property by the use of explosives, or the defense of such crimes or their authors as a means of bringing about the destruction or reform of the existing social order.?

Article 9: ?It is prohibited to:

I.   Publish written depositions or accusations in criminal proceedings before they are presented in open court;

II.   Publish at any time without the consent of the interested parties written depositions, accusations and other documentary records in cases of alleged adultery, offense against modesty, stuprum (unlawful sexual conduct), rape and intrusion into privacy;

III.  Publish without the consent of all the interested parties of lawsuits, counter-suits and other actions in divorce cases, paternity and maternity suits, pleas for nullification of marriage, or child support cases, and in the court proceedings which these may involve;

IV. Publish what occurs in judicial proceedings or actions that must remain secret under terms of the law or court order;

V.  Publicly seek or obtain public subscriptions or financial aid to pay fines levied for criminal law-breaking;

VI. Publish the names of the members of a jury, how they voted and their private discussions in reaching their verdict;

VII.            Publish the names of police or gendarmes who carry out executions for capital offenses;

VIII. Publish the names of the chiefs or officers of the Army, Navy and Rural Police officers conducting secret service;

IX.  Publish the names of the victims of offenses against modesty, unlawful sexual behavior or rape;

X.  Censure a member of a jury for his vote while carrying out his duty;

XI.  Publish secret plans, reports and documents of the Department of War and its agreements regarding the mobilization of troops, dispatch of war materiel and other military operations, as well as War Department documents, agreements or orders, so long as they are not published in the Federal Official Gazette or in special bulletins issued by the Department itself;

XII. To publish slanderous or offensive words or expressions uttered in court or in public bodies.?

Article 10: ?Contravention of any of the prohibitions contained in the previous Article shall be punishable with a fine of 50 to 500 pesos and detention of not less than one month nor more than 11.?

Article 11: ?In the event the publication contains an offense against privacy, morality or public peace, the penalty set out in the previous Article shall apply notwithstanding that which may be applicable for said attack.?

Article 12: ?Officials and employees who provide data for prohibited publication shall suffer the same penalty set out in Article 10 and shall be dismissed from their employment, unless a higher penalty is indicated under the law for disclosure of secrets, then this shall apply in such a case.?

The Enabling Legislation of 1981 on illustrated publications and magazines states:

Article 1: ?The Illustrated Publications and Magazines Examining Commission shall be responsible for the application of this Enabling Legislation.? In this connection, the Commission examines publications that come within its competence and alerts the authorities to any unlawful content. These powers are set out in Article 5 of the Enabling Legislation.

The Commission also looks at content to determine if it goes against public morality and is empowered to rule as follows:

Article 6: ?The title or content of illustrated publications and magazines shall be considered to be contrary to public morals and manners if it:

I.   Contains writings, drawings, engravings, paintings, printed matter, images, announcements, emblems, photographs and anything else that directly or indirectly induces or promotes vice or is in itself unlawful;

II.   Deals with subjects liable to oppose the work ethic and enthusiasm for study;

III.  Describes adventures in which the protagonists, disobeying the law and showing disrespect for authority, succeed in their endeavors;

IV. Provide training in how to break the law or contravene morals and good habits;

V.  Contain articles that by reason of their intent or the kind of persons depicted directly or indirectly provoke contempt for or rejection of the Mexican people, its abilities, customs and traditions;

VI. Use wording that systematically contains grammatically incorrect expressions and

VII.            Includes articles or any other content that in itself suffers from any of that which is mentioned in any of the preceding paragraphs.?

Article 7: ?Publications with a markedly sexual content shall not portray nudes or any expression contrary to morals and manners on their front or back cover; they shall be exhibited in a visible place appropriate for adults and may be exhibited only in plastic wrapping.

?Said hearing shall be called at least five business days in advance, indicating the reason for the breach.??

The Commission is empowered to levy penalties as follows:

Article 9: ?Persons who direct, edit, publish, import, distribute or sell illustrated publications and magazines as referred to in Article 6, except for newsboys, shall be subject to administrative penalty.? The fines range from 1,000 to 50,000 pesos and detention of up to 36 hours. The fines are doubled for repeat offenses. Failure to pay the fine attracts imprisonment of up to 15 days.

Under Article 10, the Commission has control over content on authorizing registration of the magazine or publication.

Finally, Article 11 permits the owners, editors or publishers of publications at any time to rule on its legality.

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