Settlement terms:

By: Editorial Staff El Nuevo Dia vs. Gov. Rossell?
Following are key terms of the settlement between the Puerto Rican government and El Nuevo Dia, according to the paper's editor and president, Antonio Luis Ferr?:
1 Official advertising or publicity cannot be used to punish or reward any news organization.
2 The Puerto Rican press has the right to disseminate information freely, independently and objectively without fear of reprisals or repression.
3All journalists, including those from El Nuevo Dia, may have unrestricted access to any public document.
4The governor, by executive order, shall establish a public policy on government advertising that guarantees the efficient use of public funds and protects the press from reprisals. The policy will use objective criteria such as the cost per thousand readers reached.
The following are excerpts from the executive order signed by Gov. Pedro Rossell? May 11:
The implementation and execution of this policy on advertising strategy and media use must be supervised by the Central Office for Communications (OCC, in Spanish initials) for the benefit of the Puerto Rican people, assuring that communications are far-reaching and cost-effective and verifying that the placement of government advertising or publicity is rooted in legitimate reasons and not in reprisal for news coverage ... The OCC will place advertising using the following parameters: available budget for media, market penetration of a media property, strategic value, and an analysis of the market and cost efficiency. In the case of print media, the OCC will consider cost per thousand; prevailing discounts, including volume discounts offered the government; demographics of a print organization based on readership studies; and audited or sworn circulation.

?(Editor & Publisher Web Site:http:www.mediainfo.com) [Caption]
?(copyright: Editor & Publisher May 15, 1999) [Caption]