The online news portal Voces en Libertad was created to fight censorship imposed by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. It allows for collaboration among independent news outlets, existing and emerging, so they can continue informing and telling Nicaragua’s stories.
A group of organizations, media, and journalists from the region, have come together to create RedLEAL, Network for the Defense of Freedom of Expression in Latin America. The objective of the group is to establish a solidarity network and give visibility to under-reported cases of violations of freedom of expression in Latin America.
The first edition of the Racial Profile of the Brazilian Press shows that Black journalists make up a fifth of the country's newsrooms, despite Black people representing a majority of the population. The unprecedented study also revealed that Black journalists occupy fewer leadership positions and have fewer promotions throughout their career
The Salvadoran Legislative Assembly is expected to approve the Foreign Agents Law that would impose a 40 percent tax on all financial transactions of the country’s social and journalistic organizations, mostly critical and independent, which receive funds from abroad.
Through its podcast Deliberante, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression encourages audiences to embrace Inter-American standards and especially learn the stories behind them.
According to the study by SembraMedia, in 2019, grants surpassed all other sources of financing and came to represent 29 percent of revenue from these media in the region. And, in 2020, they reached 37 percent.
"Quisiera ver este foro como una oportunidad para reflexionar sobre nuestra situación, para iniciar una conversación que nos lleve a enfrentar juntos, mejor organizados y acompañados, la ola de ataques orquestados hacia el periodismo centroamericano desde cada uno de nuestros gobiernos. Juntos, organizados, resistiremos mejor”, dijo el periodista Carlos Dada en el Foro Centroamericano de Periodismo.
“I would like to see this forum as an opportunity to reflect on our situation, to start a conversation that leads us to face together, better organized and accompanied, the wave of orchestrated attacks on Central American journalism from each of our governments. Together, organized, we will better resist” said Carlos Dada at the Central American Journalism Forum.
Members of the press have faced extrajudicial house arrests, summons with authorities, suspension of services, withdrawal of accreditations and the presence of security agents near their homes since days before the 15-N protests.
Journalists from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela spoke in a panel during the webinar “Journalism in Times of Polarization and Disinformation in Latin America.” The panel explored press freedom in countries faced with increasingly authoritarian governments and how they’ve been able to continue doing journalism.
Journalists who become targets in polarized societies must support each other, persevere in doing investigative journalism, and always check the information in their stories, concluded participants in the panel “Polarization: Challenges for Journalists who Become Targets in Polarized Societies,” which was part of the event “Journalism in Times of Polarization and Disinformation in Latin America.”
Latin America is experiencing a “golden age of investigative reporting,” according to Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos. At the annual Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC), reporters from the region shared tips and methodologies for investigating everything from COVID-19 to corruption.