By Maira Magro
After a bomb was thrown at the offices of Channel 9 in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción, the Paraguayan Journalists’ Union (SPP) has said last week’s attack is diverting attention from “unjustified firings, union persecution, black lists,” and violations of worker rights at the station. The union urged the authorities to investigate the station’s management.
Read the full press release on the website of La Nación newspaper.
According to the statement, journalist and union delegate Daniela Candia was fired from Channel 9 after complaining to management about issues involving overtime pay and time off. Soon after, the organization asked President Fernando Lugo to intervene on their behalf.
ABC newspaper highlights several part of the missive: The SPP calls the “alleged presence” of the Paraguayan People's Army guerillas (EPP) a “joke in bad taste or an attempt to distract," saying: “This has no semblance of truth nor do the police accept it as such(…) Is it a smoke screen to divert attention from the main problem, which is the unfair firing of…Daniela Candia and union persecution?”
Publimentro reports that on Jan. 17, the station’s management met with journalists, union representatives, and officials from the Ministry of Justice and Labor to discuss the issue.
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.
