La Paz - The broadcast of a rape on a Bolivian television network caused outrage Wednesday in the Andean country. "We have witnessed Tuesday the footage of a sexual act in which four young men rape a 13-year-old girl, and that is outrageous, indecent and unethical," said Hernan Cabrera, head of the Press Federation of the southern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz.
Cabrera asked the authorities to prosecute the cameraman and the reporter who watched and filmed the rape without helping the victim.
"That is not how you do journalism. In the name of a scoop, of an exclusive, we are generating this kind of thing. A life is worth more than a scoop, it is a lot more valuable than an exclusive. Freedom of expression has its limits," Cabrera stressed.
Legislator Marisol Aban also slammed the television network Red Uno for broadcasting the footage and called it an unlawful justification of criminal behaviour. She called for legal sanctions on Red Uno for violating the rights of children.
Red Uno broadcast the rape, which it described as "genuine," during its morning programme El Mananero on Tuesday. The channel did not subsequently respond to any of the criticism.
