Ecuadorian non-governmental organization Fundamedios filed a lawsuit challenging President Rafael Correa's order that public officials not give interviews to certain media outlets, reported the website Cerigua. In June, President Correa prohibited his ministers and public officials from giving interviews to privately-owned media companies, calling them "mercantilists" and accusing them of lying about him.
The lawsuit was filed by Santiago Guardera, director of the Center for Human Rights at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador's Law School, Fundamedios Executive Director César Ricaurte, and lawyer David Cordero Heredia, according to the website.
Fundamedios' lawsuit is the most recent in a series of battles the Ecuadorian press has had to fight with the Correa administration.
Fundamedios has been one of the organizations monitoring the press freedom situation in Ecuador. In October 2012, the Inter American Press Association recognized Fundamedios with the Grand Prize for Press Freedom for its defense and promotion of freedom of expression in the South American country.
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.
