By Isabela Fraga
As Colombia commemorated the Day of the Journalist on Saturday, Feb. 9, the president of the Venezuelan National Union of Journalists (CNP in Spanish), Tinedo Guía -- who was visiting the Venezuelan state of Táchira at the invitation of the North Santander Journalist Circle, a Colombian organization -- warned about the difficulties reporters face in his country, reported El Universal.
"The practice of journalism in Venezuela is difficult, journalists working for private media face undue blame [...] We journalists are no one's enemy, we are here to serve," he said during his visit. The Venezuelan state of Táchira is near the border with the Colombian department of Santander.
According to El País, Guía brought up a recent case when a group of private media reporters were denied access to the Venezuelan National Assembly. After the incident, Guía requested more protection for press workers covering the legislature.
"A journalist's job is to ask questions, to get as close as possible to the truth and work on behalf of the public we serve, this is poorly understood," the CNP president commented, according to the website Primicias24.com.
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.
