The Honduran digital newspaper Hondudiario announced that it was the target of a cyber attack that left its website out of service for 48 hours on Friday, Oct. 12, according to the Committee for Free Expression in Honduras (C-Libre in Spanish). Since 2009, the online publication has reported other threats and attacks, the worst of which was the killing of one of its reporters in August 2012. The crime remains unsolved.
Hondudiario's owners and the news monitoring service SEPROC suspected the attack was motivated by a recent investigation into the excessive use of helicopters by the government and its debt to the leasing company. The journalist Arístides Aceituno said he had received threatening phone calls for publishing the investigation, according to C-Libre.
On its website, the newspaper held the Honduran government responsible for defending press freedom and claimed it had received threats and attacks for its reporting in the past.
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.
