Awarding the 2020 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima held special significance for the press in her home country.
A report in Colombia’s Semana magazine alleging that more than two dozen national and international journalists were spied on by Army intelligence officials has led to uproar and calls for further investigations.
As it has done with most things, the current COVID-19 pandemic has made its mark on the annual celebration of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), recognized each year on May 3.
Since the new coronavirus arrived in Cuba, independent journalism has had to face the increasingly common fines of Decree 370, which penalizes the opinions of Cubans posted on social networks and digital platforms.
Since the Salvadoran government imposed mandatory home quarantine on March 21 due to the new coronavirus pandemic, a number of executive restrictions have affected access to information and freedom of expression.
Latin America has seen an overall decline in respect for press freedom, according to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF, for its acronym in French).
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned this week that governments are using the new coronavirus pandemic to publish measures that threaten freedom of expression. The two organizations cited the case of Bolivia, and CPJ also highlighted the situation in Puerto Rico.
UNESCO is donating a total of US $500,000 to nonprofit organizations, including media associations and/or journalists, with projects that improve legal protections for journalists, as well as those that support investigative journalism aimed at fighting impunity.
The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA, for its Spanish acronym) warned this week that the ban on questions from journalists during government announcements about the coronavirus contributes to disinformation in the country.
Journalist Víctor Fernando Álvarez Chávez, 50, has been missing from the Mexican state of Guerrero since April 2.