On orders from Ecuador's media regulator, a television news presenter publicly apologised Wednesday for having used discriminatory words in an on-air comment.
Alfredo Pinoargote, of the private Ecuavisa channel, was ordered to apologize after a ruling party lawmaker complained to the Superintendence of Information and Communication that his remarks were "discriminatory."
At issue were comments Pinoargote made during his interview program earlier this year about free speech in Ecuador.
Pinoargote argued that he had not used those words as insults but to make the point that certain politicians "gag free expression using those groups as a shield."
The media regulator, known as Supercom, sided with ruling party deputy Alexandra Ocles, who had lodged the complaint against Pinoargote.
Pinoargote was given 72 hours to make a public apology.
"I ask the forgiveness of the Afro-Ecuadoran people and of the community of diverse sexual orientations for what I said in this space, January 7, 2014, that one can no longer say what lawmaker Ocles in her complaint said cannot be said," Pinoargote said Wednesday on his interview show.
