SCHOOL MILK SCANDAL - Dominican press on trial

The Dominican press are on trial in a case that looks to set a new precedent. The case revolves around two journalists, Nuria Piera and Huchi Lora who were researching a story regarding the contracted supply of milk to schools.
According to the journalists, they uncovered proof that the milk supplied was below minimum standards of quality as outlined by Dominican law.
A test apparently arranged by Nuria Piera in May indicated that the milk was sub-standard and contained much less protein than would normally be expected, and well below the Ministry of Education's 3.3% minimum protein standard.
Other media reports followed on from this and suggested that the milk was little more than ‘sugar water’.
The company with the most government contracts to supply school breakfast drink supplies
Lácteos Dominicanos S.A (Ladom), and responsible for 40% of all breakfast drinks supplied, arranged their own test from a remote school in the mountains of San Cristobal. The results of that test were considerably better than the results presented in the original tests carried out by Nuria Piera in May. The test, ironically, still did not meet the written requirement of the Ministry of Education for school breakfast drinks.
Both journalists continued to question the truth of the official tests results and asked to see more results from the last few months. According to Piera and Lora, the company has not been able to produce a single lab test that can prove they have met Ministry of Education written requirements.
Government press secretary Rafael Nunez, was quick to defend Ladom and the government’s actions in several press conferences, but no more results were forthcoming.
Piera also accused the press spokesman for the Presidency of lying, with inconsistencies in whether the government had actually done any tests at all.
In the latest twist to the case, Ladom recently sued the journalists on grounds of defamation and loss of sales, and obtained a court order to have the homes and offices of the two journalists searched, supposedly on the premise of obtaining any information relating to the Ladom tests.
Ladom were also able to get the case changed from a public case to a private case, without the consent of the two journalists. This change was later found to be ‘irregular’ and overturned by Judge Elka Reyes Olivo.
On a recent talk show, fellow journalist Altagracia Salazar agreed with Lora, stating, "When a company has a contract with the government, receives money and does not fulfill the contractual obligations, then nothing happens."
"But when the company [Ladom] requests the support of the prosecutors to proceed against someone [the journalists] who points this out, the prosecutors are very diligent and even authorize action against us, while they are negligent to their own responsibilities with the general public," complained Lora.
Other press organizations are backing the sued journalists and are suggesting that it is a sad day for the Dominican Republic when it is impossible and potentially dangerous for the press to draw attention to the irregularities of large companies particularly when they have large government contracts.
Public relations expert Manuel Quiterio Cedeno attacked Ladom last week in a press article, writing,
"First, when they thought that no one would dare report on the production of "milk" with whey without protein. Next, when the case hit the media, instead of being humble, that they could be arrogant and not pay any cost for the case. Third, when the case had reached scandal levels they could use attack as their strategy. And fourth, that they could resolve the serious image problem that had been created by humiliating the journalists in a court before a judge.”
Cedeno called the case "a spectacular monument to the absurd."
"They sue because they feel defamed by what was said and published, and now they want to search the offices of the journalists to secure information that was not published," he writes, asking, "then what was the crime?"