One of the challenges the media faces in its struggle for press freedom is communicating its relevancy to the public, according to some experts at the State of Press Freedom in Latin America forum that took place in Bogotá, Colombia on Tuesday, Jan. 22, reported the newspaper El Tiempo.
Leading up to the forum, Colombian governors and mayors added their signatures to the Inter American Press Association's (IAPA) Declaration of Chapultepec, which seeks to defend press freedom in the region.
According to Omar Rincón, a Colombian columnist, media analyst and director of the Journalism Studies Center at the University of the Andes, there is no "social base" to defend the media because the "Declaration of Chapultepec has not reached the citizenry," among other reasons, reported El Tiempo.
One problem especially common in Colombia is when the citizen "doesn't care either way what happens." In that case, Rincón suggested IAPA examine this as one of its priorities, alongside threats against journalists and impunity, reported the website for the University of the Andes.
IAPA's leaders expressed their concern over laws that gag the press in Latin America and referred to cases in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Nicaragua, according to El Tiempo.
The director of the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Migual Otero, said there are two factors that weaken independent media in Latin America, reported the newspaper La Prensa. The first deals with conflicts between armed groups reporters, a situation that worsens when attacks on the media go unpunished. The second factor is State pressure to "create a media hegemony" or stifle the press through lawsuits.
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.
