Liberdade de Expressão Archives

Posts Tagged ‘ Liberdade de Expressão ’

claudia duque in black and white over a black background

A jornalista colombiana Claudia Duque rejeita o pedido de desculpas do governo por anos de tortura psicológica

Claudia Duque luta por justiça há duas décadas após ser perseguida e ameaçada por agentes do governo. Agora que o Estado planeja oferecer um pedido de desculpas, por que se recusa a aceitá-lo?

President Nayib Bukele walks with top security and government officials inside El Salvador’s high-security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), flanked by rows of heavily armed police officers.

Jornalistas do El Faro temem prisão após denunciar supostos elos de Bukele com gangues

O El Faro, principal veículo de jornalismo investigativo de El Salvador, afirma que o governo está preparando mandados de prisão contra seus jornalistas após a publicação de entrevistas que vinculam a ascensão política do presidente Nayib Bukele ao apoio de gangues.

stock markets falling + journalists in the forefront

A liberdade de imprensa está se deteriorando na América Latina enquanto a viabilidade financeira dos veículos independentes torna-se cada vez mais incerta

Um novo relatório da Repórteres Sem Fronteiras constata que a instabilidade econômica prejudicou a indústria da mídia na maioria dos países da América Latina no ano passado. A Nicarágua, sob uma ditadura cada vez mais repressiva, ultrapassou Cuba como o pior país da região para a liberdade de imprensa.

Grupo de personas frente a una audiencia hablando

Para jornalistas nicaraguenses, exílio e a perda de nacionalidade são o custo de reportar

Diante da perseguição sistemática do regime de Ortega e Murillo, que obriga redações inteiras a fugirem, o exílio tornou-se uma característica marcante do jornalismo nicaraguense. No Colóquio Ibero-Americano de Jornalismo Digital, jornalistas compartilharam seus esforços para informar, resistir e permanecerem seguros.

Silvio Monteiro Jr. Speaking at a podium

Acadêmicos dizem que desinformação, pressão política e mudanças tecnológicas estão transformando jornalismo na América Latina

Estudiosos alertam que a liberdade na região sofre ameaças não apenas de ditaduras, mas também de governos democráticos e por meio do aparelhamento da mídia no Colóquio Ibero-Americano de Jornalismo Digital. Eles pedem por respostas inovadoras e colaborativas.

Black-and-white photograph of Clarice and Vladimir Herzog. Clarice, in the foreground, smiles gently at the camera, while Vladimir, slightly out of focus in the background, looks in her direction. The setting appears to be an indoor space with bookshelves behind them.

Justiça brasileira concede pensão à viúva de Vladimir Herzog 50 anos após o seu assassinato

Clarice Herzog, de 83 anos, lutou por décadas por justiça. Os responsáveis pela tortura e morte do jornalista seguem impunes.

Um gráfico promocional para uma entrevista intitulada 'Cinco Perguntas para Juliana Dal Piva'. A imagem apresenta o título no lado esquerdo, com um logotipo geométrico, e uma fotografia de Juliana Dal Piva à direita. Ela veste branco e sorri em frente a uma estante de livros.

'A gente precisa que as redações deem mais espaço para a ditadura', diz Juliana Dal Piva, autora de livro sobre o assassinato de Rubens Paiva

“Crime sem castigo: como os militares mataram Rubens Paiva" é resultado de anos de pesquisa e apuração jornalística e reconstrói os eventos que levaram à morte de Paiva. A autora defende a importância da memória e da investigação jornalística para a compreensão desse período sombrio da história brasileira.

In theory, the purpose of government advertising is to distribute information of public relevance to society.State advertising funds are meant to help governments communicate with the population about the services they provide and public policies they promote, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

In practice, however, government advertising funds form a crucial pillar of financial sustainability for many media outlets across Latin America. Without regulations defining how these funds should be distributed or transparency that shows where the money goes, the resources become ripe for corruption. They are frequently used as tools for indirect censorship, punishing independent journalism.

These are some conclusions from a study published last week by the Latin American Observatory of Media Regulation and Convergence with support from UNESCO. The study, called "Official Advertising, Media, and Freedom of Expression,” diagnoses existing regulations on official advertising in 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and how they are implemented.

Journalists, academics, and researchers from independent organizations in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay examined state advertising under the coordination of Uruguayan researcher Jimena Torres and guidance from Argentine researcher Santiago Marino. They sought to answer questions like: Are there specific laws regulating government advertising? Are there proactive mechanisms for disclosing these funds? Who is eligible to receive them?

The diagnosis is quite negative. Few countries have adequate regulations, and when they do, they are not systematically enforced. In countries with smaller advertising markets, official advertising becomes critical for the sustainability of media outlets, and it is managed without transparency and with political bias.

"Due to the absence of regulation and the logic behind its management, government advertising is administered from a friend-or-foe perspective, using very opaque criteria for its distribution," Santiago Marino, the chief researcher, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). "This, in turn, conditions both the operation and sustainability of media outlets."

Funds without laws

From the 11 countries studied, only Brazil, Mexico, and Peru have specific laws determining how government advertising funds should be allocated. But the mere existence of a regulation does not guarantee transparency, fairness, or that official advertising promotes pluralism in communication in any of these countries.

Brazil's regulatory framework, from 2008, is the most praised in the study and is considered “sufficiently clear.” It distinguishes between institutional advertising and public-interest advertising, with clear limits on self-promotion by government officials and political parties. However, the allocation of funds is not made easily accessible, requiring more meticulous methods to verify.

Additionally, the Brazilian law did not prevent the government of Jair Bolsonaro, in office from 2019 to 2022, from allocating funds to websites that publish false information. Furthermore, allocation criteria are strongly tied to audience size. “This parameter poses a problem for promoting pluralism by maintaining proportional transfers based on audience size, without investing in smaller, independent outlets,” the report says.

In Mexico, the General Law on Social Communication, enacted in 2018 and amended in 2023, regulates the issue. However, according to the study, the law leaves room for arbitrary use of government advertising budgets because it does not establish clear rules and has not been effective.

In Peru, even with various laws in place, the lack of clear allocation criteria means public entities distribute resources at their discretion. “Independent media, which are mostly critical of incumbent governments, have to seek alternative funding sources, as their stance often makes them targets of resistance to being granted official advertising,” the study says.

This vulnerability to political interests is the general rule among the countries studied. “In general, we struggled to find good practices,” Jimena Torres, the study’s coordinator, told LJR. “In many cases, we ended up saying, ‘there are no good practices in this country.’”

In Argentina, there is partial regulation for the federal executive branch but not for other branches of government. The study finds significant discretion in allocation, which becomes apparent in funds invested by public companies and other entities not directly under the national government.

Argentina also demonstrates “a distribution logic based on rewards and punishments to media outlets or groups according to their editorial stance.” As a result of this practice, several media companies have emerged in recent years, sustained almost exclusively by public funds, the study finds.

In Colombia, there is no specific regulation. As a result, ”the multimillion-dollar contracts for government advertising are distributed virtually without adherence to their intended purpose. “For years, they have been repeatedly used to pressure editorial lines or promote certain narratives,” the study says.

Marino considers the case of El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele’s government takes authoritarian measures and persecutes journalists, particularly severe. “There is no regulation whatsoever to frame this activity within an informational pluralism approach,” the report says. “The government has implemented strategies to weaken the media ecosystem, including creating its own media outlets and redirecting official advertising funds to a state-run newspaper and an official news channel.”

Geographic concentration

Another recurring issue identified by the study is the concentration of resources in capitals and metropolitan areas, disadvantaging regional or local media outlets.

“We live in media systems where news production and money are often concentrated in big cities,” said Jimena Torres. “For example, in my country, Uruguay, in a department called Cerro Largo, the main advertiser for local media is the municipality. This means there are often no news stories, or very few, that question what the municipality is doing.”

The lack of advertising funds for non-commercial media is another problem, Marino said. Non-profit outlets are often excluded from government advertising, undermining their sustainability and reducing the diversity of voices.

The study concludes with 15 recommendations. Among them is the need for “specific, clear, and unequivocal” laws to regulate the issue at all levels of government. The allocation of advertising should generally be through competitive processes, with direct contracts being the exception. Advertising must not serve as propaganda for political parties, and transparency must encompass all actors involved in the distribution of funds.

Governments should also implement or promote audience measurement systems that include different types of media and use objective, reliable criteria. These measurements should incorporate data from small, community, and local media outlets to ensure their inclusion in allocating advertisements, avoiding their indirect exclusion.

Finally, other public policies are necessary to support journalism, with resources that promote diversity and plurality in media, the study says.

“For example, through public funds distributed transparently and non-discriminatorily, separate from government advertising expenditures,” the study concludes. “These resources must not be used to influence or condition the editorial line of these outlets.”

Governos da América Latina usam publicidade oficial para controlar imprensa, aponta estudo

Análise da verba publicitária do Estado na região mostra como leis inadequadas possibilitam que governos utilizem mal os recursos, premiando aliados e ameaçando veículos independentes.

Computer with a site denial message on screen

Jornalistas no Brasil refletem sobre como o bloqueio do X/Twitter afeta o seu trabalho

Falamos com alguns dos maiores jornalistas do Brasil sobre o bloqueio do X. Muitos se dizem aliviados, mas há quem lamente: ‘Há um buraco na cobertura que não sei como tampar’.

A collage of various Chilean newspapers, websites, and magazines, showcasing significant publications from the country's history. The collage includes both contemporary and historical outlets, such as "La Aurora," "El Mercurio," "La Tercera," "La Nación," and "The Clinic". Some covers highlight pivotal historical events in Chile.

Alfredo Sepúlveda conta a história do jornalismo no Chile como uma constante tensão entre jornalistas, meios de comunicação e o poder político

No livro “Historia del Periodismo en Chile. De La Aurora a las Redes Sociales” (“História do jornalismo no Chile. de La Aurora às redes sociais”), o autor Alfredo Sepúlveda relata ao longo de mais 500 páginas como tensões entre os meios de comunicação, os jornalistas e o poder político permeiam toda a história do jornalismo no país. Em entrevista à LJR, ele discute alguns dos temas mais controversos desta história, do colaboracionismo de jornais com a ditadura de Augusto Pinochet à renúncia das regras de objetividade durante o governo de Salvador Allende.

Relatório da Unesco confirma que jornalismo de qualidade é essencial para a democracia, a responsabilidade e o engajamento cívico

Um novo relatório da Unesco confirma o que muitos jornalistas e pesquisadores já pensavam: o jornalismo de qualidade é bom para a democracia, o engajamento cívico e a responsabilidade do governo. Além disso, o investimento público no jornalismo aumenta a confiança dos cidadãos e promove os direitos humanos e o desenvolvimento sustentável.

Five people seated in front of an audience in an auditorium, speaking on a panel. A big screen behind them shows images of Nicaragua

Exílio, prisão e morte: dificuldades de jornalistas na Nicarágua são tema de painel em colóquio

A situação vivida pelos jornalistas da Nicarágua é uma das piores da região, e esteve no centro do debate, ao lado de exemplos de resistência e perseverança frente a adversidades, no painel “Jornalismo na Nicarágua”, durante o 17º Colóquio Ibero-Americano de Jornalismo Digital.