Organization denounces a black year for the press with a record of journalists murdered and imprisoned


Threats to press freedom have been exacerbated in Latin Americawith records of journalists murdered and imprisoned, media raided and restrictive legislation, warned the Inter American Press Association.

“We are closing a black semester for journalism in the Americas,” said Carlos Jonet, in charge of the Commission on Freedom of the Press and Information of the IAPA, at the opening of its half-year meeting that concludes this Thursday virtually.

The organization denounced growing difficulties in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, The Savior, Nicaragua either Venezuelawhere media workers become the target of attacks by political leaders and, by extension, by sectors of society.

In Brazil, says the IAPA, the situation is “worrying” due to the “anti-journalistic stance” of the government of Jair Bolsonarowhich “fosters violence” against those who inform and promotes boycott towards the media.

As an example, he mentions the recent request by the far-right president to businessmen not to invest in newspaper advertising.

“The president, his political allies and his sympathizers continue to constantly hinder the free exercise” of journalism to incite “aggressiveness” in the face of the elections next October, says the report by the agency, based in Miami.

Organized crime and the advancement of restrictive legislation also pose serious threats when denouncing fundamental issues such as corruption.

The IAPA underlines the danger of the job in Mexico, where 16 journalists have been murdered in the last year, most with a history of threats from criminal groups and requests for protection.

According to the NGO Article 19cited in the report on Mexico, direct and public criticism of the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador towards the media and journalists are around almost 2,000. Since 2018, attacks on members of the press have increased 85 percent.

“President López Obrador has not stopped accusing the country’s communicators of being part of a business conspiracy to affect his government,” affirms the IAPA, recalling that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights He asked the Mexican president, unsuccessfully so far, to withdraw the space he dedicates each week to criticizing the press.

Gag laws, political pressure

The president of the SIP, Jorge Canahuatidescribed the panorama of press freedom in the region as “disheartening”.

“The disrespect for the work of journalists and the media is colossal, from dictators, authoritarian rulers, drug traffickers, and word-of-mouth democratic officials,” he estimated.

The report regarding The Savior denounces that the government of Nayib Bukele it has implemented penal reforms, a gag law, and surveillance using computer programs to “strangle” freedom of expression and the press.

Nicaragua, for its part, lived through one of the “gloomiest” times to practice journalism during the electoral process of November last year, when the president Daniel Ortega He was elected for a fourth consecutive term.

There were 661 attacks against media outlets and journalists, most of them committed by state institutions or officials, said the IAPA report.

Attacks on the media in other countries were also condemned by the regional organization.

In Venezuela, the case of the newspaper The Nationalconfiscated after a disputed trial for defamation promoted by the number two of Chavismo, God given hair; in Argentina, the headquarters of the newspaper Clarín was the object of an attack with Molotov cocktails in November by hooded men; and in Colombiatwo media facilities were damaged by a car bomb.

economic sustainability

For Canahuati, the “weak” economic situation that corners many media outlets is another threat to press freedom, with direct consequences on the quality of democracies at a time when disinformation for propaganda purposes is experiencing an unprecedented boom.

“There is no medium that is free from the yoke of economical crisisthe intrinsic, which has to do with the reduction of publicity, once the greatest support, and the context of general economic crisis of our countries,” he said.

In its final resolution, the IAPA emphasizes that the financial sustainability of the news media is an essential requirement for their independence.

And in times of primacy of big platforms like Google Y Facebookadvocates legislation favorable to protecting the role of the media and content remuneration agreements with digital companies to guarantee the survival of the professional online journalism.



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