By Liliana Honorato
During the Paraguay Resists Social Forum, that took place in the Plaza of Arms, in front of the national Congress, in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Tuesday and Wednesday Aug. 14 and 15, journalists and the Paraguayan press reported a campaign against public and alternative news media ever since President Fernando Lugo was removed from office on June 22 and replaced by Federico Franco in what some have referred to as an administrative coup, reported the newspaper Diario de Carlos Paz.
After the controversial removal of President Lugo, many journalist unions reported violations against press freedom and freedom of expression in Paraguay. In July, the Latin American Union of News Agencies (ULAN in Spanish) suspended the affiliation of the state news agency Paraguay Information (IP Paraguay), “until the initiation of a new legitimate government."
According to teleSUR TV, many press workers of the Public Television will be fired “with the false argument of reaching the budget's maximum to pay salaries.” On July 26, the Paraguayan Journalists Union said that the firing of press workers is for ideological motives and demanded respect for freedom of expression.
Representatives of alternative broadcasters from different regions of Paraguay said that they were prohibited from transmitting information that is against the administrative coup, added Télam.
Reporters Without Borders also said that Paraguayan community radios could be repressed.
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.
