For Bolivian investigative journalist Raúl Peñaranda, a columnist and former director of the independent newspaper Página Siete, access to information in his country is extremely limited.
In August, the Congress of Bolivia approved the first part of a bill on access to public information, which does not have the support of journalists in the country because it's seen as a a threat to freedom of expression and an obstacle to investigative journalism.
According to journalists in Bolivia, the bill contradicts constitutional principles and international standards.
During the 11th Austin Forum -- organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas on Nov. 8 and 9 at the University of Texas at Austin -- Peñaranda said that the enactment of the bill would generate a setting that is even worse than the one that already exists for investigative journalism in Bolivia.
In his session, the journalist explained that the majority of media outlets in the nation are favorable to the government of Evo Morales. The few independent media outlets in Bolivia like Página Siete, on top of being excluded from the distribution of state advertising, are constantly attacked publicly on broadcast television and radio by government officials, according to Peñaranda.
"The opposition is weak and divided," the journalist said, adding that 80 percent of the media outlets in the nation follow Morales' political agenda in their reports.
The government also doesn't grant interviews or statements to independent media outlets, and all the information requested from state entities is denied with the official explanation of "being in process," Peñaranda said.
In a country with a government as powerful and popular as Bolivia's, the work of monitoring and questioning the state is becoming more and more difficult, he concluded.
Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC) professor Úrsula Freundt-Thurne spoke of transparency, accountability and journalism in Peru. She underscored the current fragility of democratic institutions in the country, the culture of secrecy that pervades in them and the current crisis of confidence in the state.
In a national survey on public perception conducted in October this year -- which found that Peruvians considered the National Police, the Judicial Branch and Congress the most corrupt institutions in the country -- media outlets were ranked to be more credible and reliable than government entities.
In August, President Ollanta Humala signed into law the Access to Public Information Act, which aims to promote government transparency and regulate access to public information, as required by the Peruvian constitution.
According to a national survey conducted by the UPC among 37 journalists from several media outlets, 48.6 percent of them have used the public information mechanisms to do their job, but only 5.4 percent of them said they use them frequently.
Freundt-Thurne said that in countries like Peru, where there is public corruption and citizens largely lack confidence in public institutions, the societal role of journalists becomes more important and demanding.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
