Overview
- The Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones (CRT) published draft lineamientos this week and opened a public consultation that lays out mandatory codes of ethics, a defensor de las audiencias (ombudsman) role, clear complaint steps and deadlines for resolving claims.
- The proposal requires visible markers to separate advertising from editorial content and to flag opinion programs, for example a ‘P’ symbol on TV or verbal notices on radio, with format details still open to change during consultation.
- Presidency legal counsel Luisa María Alcalde, CRT president Norma Solano and President Claudia Sheinbaum said the rules do not censor content and that CRT intervention would follow an unresolved‑complaint path rather than direct content regulation.
- Industry groups, columnists and opinion writers warn the measures could enable state pressure depending on how recommendations are interpreted and enforced, and editorial coverage has pressed concerns about potential overreach.
- The draft responds to a legal arc from a 2017 rollback and a 2022 Supreme Court decision that led to 2025 legislation requiring these lineamientos, and the CRT and government have scheduled meetings with the CIRT while the public consultation period and final text are still being settled.