In an editorial published Thursday, Aug. 2, the newspaper El Observador criticized the Uruguayan government of issuing a decree that censors violent images prior to their publication in the news.
According to the newspaper, the alleged ban is the government's strategy to avoid "public exposure to violence" in the country, since research shows that insecurity is the population's main concern.
On Friday, Aug. 3, the Uruguayan government officially denied the censorship accusations, reported the news site La Red 21. The government said that the article was incorrect and was the opposite of what the administration had published about the subject, according to the government's press release. "The Executive Power did not issue any decree forbidding the publishing of images, as the 1988 provisions that authorized prior censorship were revoked," the release said.
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.
