"The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS), Pedro Vaca Villarreal, warned in an interview with EFE that self-censorship dominates journalistic work in America, a continent in which 'all countries have serious challenges to guarantee freedom of the press.'
'Self-censorship is like the air that we begin to breathe collectively,' Vaca said.
[...]
For Vaca, whose second term ends in 2026, one of the problems when it comes to measuring the impact of self-censorship is precisely the impossibility of doing so.
'There are things that can be measured: the number of stigmatizations, the number of threats, the number of journalists killed, the decrease in official advertising, the increase in lawsuits. But how do you measure an atmosphere of self-censorship in which the press doesn't feel safe to speak out, or fears the consequences for their families, or gauges whether this report could cost me exile?' he asks."
