The Disciplinary Council of the Portuguese Football Federation has closed the case against a SportTV journalist and will leave article 91 of the League’s competition regulations inapplicable as unconstitutional and contrary to press freedom.
In a statement published this Thursday on the official website of the federation, the organization reaffirmed that the opening of a sanctioning process was “mandatory”, taking into account the legal duty when “materiality capable of configuring, in the abstract, a sanctioning process”. infraction.”
“The Disciplinary Council, having concluded the process that is an indispensable condition for its decision, decided by Judgment to close the disciplinary process derived from the complaint in an official part of the game of the breach by a field reporter of the duties related to the flash interview, since it considers that article 91 of the Regulations for Competitions Organized by the Portuguese League is unconstitutional,” the statement read.
The lawsuit, initiated on August 30, occurred after the journalist from the SportTV channel, Rita Latas, asked the coach of the lions “outside the context of the match that had just ended”, thus breaching article 91 of the Regulations of Competitions Organized by the Portuguese League. .
The question, asked in the quick interview area, was related to the former Sporting player, Islam Slimani.
“It was the decision of the Disciplinary Council to initiate the process to which it was obliged, refusing to turn a blind eye to a complaint, which made it possible to clarify, by unanimous decision, that journalists cannot be prohibited from asking questions with certain content in the context of football competitions. It was respect for the rule of law that imposed the beginning of the disciplinary process, “he explained.
The federal body goes further and announced that it will stop applying the article in question, for “restricting freedom of the press in the name of protecting unconstitutional values, namely, the patrimonial interests of the promoter of the sporting event and broadcasting operators. television, being, therefore, a manifestly illegitimate norm in light of the Constitution”.
Source: TSF
