A Honduran candidate complained that a mayor that is running for reelection closed news media outlets to prevent opposing candidates from expressing themselves, according to the organization Committee for Freedom of Expression in Honduras (C-Libre).
Candidate Francis Estrada said that he cannot buy advertising in news media outlets because his rival, mayor Roosevelt Avilez of the city of Talanga, prohibited outlets from selling advertising to his opponents, according to the newspaper Tiempo.
Estrada also said that the mayor closed two news media outlets, where the opposing candidate planned on giving interviews, and that the public official also threatened to levy municipal taxes on radio stations in order to prevent them from interviewing opponents, reported C-Libre. Mayor Avilez denied practicing censorship, according to La Tribuna.
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.
