LA PAZ, Bolivia (AFP)--President Evo Morales on Sunday announced the founding later this month of an official newspaper by which his government can defend itself from "the lies" of the private media and tell the people "the truth."
"The government will have a newspaper. I've asked our media team to launch on January 22 a newspaper so we can tell the truth," Morales said in an interview with state-run Patria Nueva radio station.
The first indigenous president in Bolivia's history, Morales has often been at loggerheads with Bolivia's privately-owned media outlets for their open criticism of his populist and socialist policies.
"Some media want to victimize me," Morales said.
"I was a permanent media victim when I was a union leader ... and now that I am president," said the 49-year-old former leader of Bolivia's main coca growers' union that helped him rise to power.
"Always lies and more lies," he added.
"I've also got a right to defend myself from the media lies."
Since becoming president in 2006, Morales has boosted financial and technological support of state-owned media outlets - Patria Nueva, ABI news agency and TVB television - with the help of a $1.5 million loan from Venezuela, Bolivia's chief ally in the region.
The Morales administration also enjoys strong support from community radios run by farming unions across rural Bolivia.
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Publié le 04 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones