For journalist Iván Flores Poveda, the presidential elections that will take place in Ecuador in February 2017 represent “a democratic transition.” After 10 years in power, President Rafael Correa decided not to put his hat in the ring for the position. However, according to Flores, the president has become a kind of campaign manager for the ticket of Lenín Moreno and Jorge Glass, the former and current vice presidents under Correa.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) just announced its annual awards for Excellence in Journalism 2016, aimed to “encourage excellence in journalism and the defense of freedom of expression throughout the continent.”
For repeatedly questioning the purchase of medication by the Ecuadorian government, journalist Janet Hinostroza, and the broadcaster Teleamazonas in which she hosts an interview program, were sanctioned on Aug. 8 by the Superintendency of Information and Communication (Supercom) of Ecuador, according to Fundamedios, a freedom of expression organization.
The six Ecuadorian journalists who participated in the global investigation known as the Panama Papers have been the subject of a “campaign of genuine harassment,” as denounced by the nonprofit organization Fundamedios.
The conflict that the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has with the majority of media in his country is no secret. Since approving the Organic Law of Communication (LOC by its initials in Spanish) in 2013, different national and international organizations have denounced its restrictions on freedom of speech and press freedoms in the country.
Through Twitter accounts of officials or public institutions in Ecuador, 1,384 Tweets with speech disparaging, discrediting or stigmatizing the press in the country were published between June 2012 and November 2015.
While journalists in Ecuador who were part of the global journalistic investigation known as the Panama Papers are facing a “campaign of harassment” led by the country’s President Rafael Correa and his followers, in Peru and Panama, the most adverse reactions have come from the traditional media and civil society, respectively.
In the midst of efforts by civil society to improve dialogue between the LGBTQ community and media, the Ecuadorian government has determined that a cartoon by El Universo cartoonist Xavier Bonilla, known as Bonil, which appeared to comment on gender identity, is not discriminatory.
In the continuing saga between Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa and cartoonist Xavier “Bonil” Bonilla, the head of state took time out of his weekly national broadcast Jan. 30 to address a recent cartoon published in newspaper El Universo.
With a "humorous and satirical tone" the Andean Foundation for Social Observation and Media Study, known as Fundamedios, launched Censuracom.ec, in which the organization recorded "the most alarming attacks on freedom of expression and of the press" in Ecuador.
Ecuador’s controversial agency that controls the content of media outlets (Supercom, as it is known for its acronym in Spanish) has again admitted a complaint against newspaper El Universo for a cartoon created by Xavier Bonilla, known as Bonil.
The decision of the National Assembly of Ecuador to adopt amendments to the constitution on Dec. 3 caused alarm for freedom of expression organizations in that country.