Barely more than a week after two Peruvian TV journalists claimed El Comercio fired them for failing to toe the party line, three reporters for Radio Líder resigned after reportedly being told to not criticize presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, Terra reports.
Journalists Federico Rosado Zavala, Jorge Álvarez, and Jesús Coa said that on April 23, while broadcasting a special program on journalists being fired during the electoral campaign, they were told to not criticize Fujimori as it could harm an advertising contract, Los Andes explains.
According to La República, the three journalists resigned the following week, and on Thursday, April 28, Rosado explained their decision to Radio Líder’s listeners, saying that financial issues have influenced the station’s reporting.
On April 20, journalists Patricia Montero and José Jara, producers at the El Comercio-owned Canal N TV, were reportedly fired due to pressure from the ownership to support Fujimori and attack her opponent, Ollanta Humala.
The first round of voting took place April 10, and the runoff between Humala and Fujimori is scheduled for June 5.
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.
