By Maira Magro
In light of the on-going attempts at government regulation throughout Latin America, according to the National Press Association (ANP) of Bolivia, 13 of its affiliated newspapers have come out in favor of self-regulation and ratified their support for Article 107 of the Constitution: “Information and opinions transmitted via the media should respect the principles of honesty and accountability. These principles shall be exercised by the rules of ethics and self-regulation of journalist and media organizations and their norms."
Newspapers from various countries throughout the continent said they are confronting “difficult times for freedom of the press” and attempts by the government to censor and control information. Others pointed out that self-regulation is little-used in Latin America and argued that it is way to defend freedom of expression.
For its part, the newspaper La Razón criticized the existence of two journalistic ethics courts in the country: one from the ANP, which represents newspapers, and the other from the National Association of Journalists, which represents print professionals. “The profession would be strengthened by having only one court...in charge of cases of faults committed in the exercise of this profession," the newspaper said.
See here all of the editorials that were published.
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.
