The Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP in Spanish) celebrated the Day of the Journalist in Colombia on Saturday, Feb. 9, with the release of its 2012 report on the state of press freedom in Colombia. Click here to read the full report (in Spanish).
FLIP called attention to the 158 direct attacks on journalists on the job that took place in 2012. Attacks included the death of journalist Guillermo Quiroz, for which a police officer faces manslaughter charges, collective threats against 10 reporters in Santa Marta, a journalist's exile and the forced displacement of six reporters.
While FLIP acknowledged that the situation is not as grave as elsewhere, like Mexico, Honduras or Brazil, the group said that the country remains one of the most dangerous in the region for journalists, especially outside the capital.
The situation worsens due to frequent occurrences of impunity. In 2012, two cases under investigation had to be dropped after they exceeded the statue of limitations. Since 1977, out of the 144 cases of killed journalists in the country, 59 have foreclosed.
Nevertheless, the organization recognizes advances in cases like the assault and sexual abuse against reporter Jineth Bedoya, which was declared a crime against humanity, meaning there is no statute of limitations on its prosecution, and the cases of Orlando Sierra and Jaime Garzón, both killed and whose cases are in trail.
The report highlighted the case of Luis Agustín González, whose editorial landed him in a libel lawsuit, as the most visible cause of judicial harassment against journalists.
The Colombian Federation of Journalists also published its annual report that, while it only identified 135 attacks in 2012, agreed with FLIP on the obstacles that most affect journalists in the Andean country, including judicial harassment, violence by armed groups and impunity, among others.
During the celebration, the organization also called attention to one of the project honored by the Bogotá Journalists' Circle, which showed how some reporters in the city of Cali have to sell advertisements for their newspaper since they don't collect a salary. Listen to the report from RCN here.
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.
