A Guatemalan reporter has been summoned to reveal her source before the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, said the newspaper La Hora.
The authorities want more details on the anonymous source that leaked to La Hora a confidential report from the General Directorate of Prisons on the conditions in Guatemalan jails. The newspaper agreed to keep the source’s identity secret for security reasons after verifying the authenticity of the report. “The express condition of anonymity, for reasons of security and for fear of loss of life, cannot and never will be betrayed,” the paper said in an editorial.
The Journalist’s Observatory of the Center of Informative Reports of Guatemala (CERIGUA) condemned the summons of the reporter. “Every social communicator has the right to keep their sources, notes and personal and professional archives secret,” said the organization.
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.
