By Ingrid Bachmann
Edwin Echeverry, part of the communications team for the mayor's office of Medellín is being "tormented" for criticizing on his personal Facebook page the costs of a fireworks spectacular planned to celebrate the bicentennial, according to the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper).
A statement from Fecolper explained that the journalist is accused of using confidential information -- the costs of the show -- to post his comment, that the facts used in his comment constitute libel, and that the journalist participated in politics by discussing the city administration on the social network. Fecolper rejected each one of the charges. “We're facing blatant bullying”, the president of the organization said.
The Journalism Association of Antioquia also expressed concern about Echeverry's case.
For more information related to social media and freedom of expression, see this Knight Center Twitter feed.
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.
