The incompatibility of the mandatory degree in journalism according to the Inter-American Human Rights Standards: The Ecuadorian case

Abstract

The article proposes that the requirement of an academic degree to exercise journalism is incompatible with Inter-American human rights standards. The author examines Article 42 of the Organic Law of Communication (LOC) and the scope of the control of constitutionality and conventionality in the matter of human rights. Article 42 may also constitute an illegitimate restriction on the freedom of expression and a scenario of prior censorship within a context that could even imply a criminal sanction and in which there is a definite criterion of the Inter-American Court opposed to a mandatory degree in order to practice journalism.