The state of freedom of expression has deteriorated throughout the Americas, concluded delegates at the Mid-Year meeting of the Inter American Press Association, held April 6-9 in San Diego, Ca.
"The gloomy record of journalists being murdered continued to expand during the last six months in Latin America, where the state of freedom of expression deteriorated enormously in nearly all of the Americas, particularly in Argentina and Ecuador," according to IAPA's conclusions.
IAPA's Mid-Year Meeting was held in conjunction with the annual convention of the American Society of News Editors (ASNE). During the meeting, IAPA president Gonzalo Marroquín and the McCormick Foundation were honored with press freedom awards.
The report from the IAPA meeting also highlighted violence against the media in Mexico, threats of government control in Venezuela and Ecuador, attacks and threats against Latin American journalists, and restrictive press laws in various countries, according to various news sources.
Several resolutions also came out of the meeting, such as regarding impunity in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.
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.
