The sudden halt in U.S. government support has left dozens of Latin American newsrooms scrambling to stay afloat. While some have begun tapping into new revenue sources, most still face an uphill battle for long-term sustainability.
An aggressive new law taxing foreign funding, along with arrests of government critics, signals a deepening authoritarian turn in El Salvador.
A Salvadoran court sentenced three former officers to 15 years in prison for ordering an ambush that killed four Dutch journalists during the civil war. It’s the first time a crime of humanity documented by the UN Truth Commission has led to a conviction in El Salvador.
El Faro, the leading investigative outlet in El Salvador, says the government is preparing arrest warrants against its journalists following publication of interviews linking President Nayib Bukele’s political rise to support from gangs.
While authoritarian leaders in Latin America discredit media funded by US entities, journalists argue that these funds do not dictate their agendas, but rather support informative work in repressive contexts.
Women journalists in El Salvador face relentless online abuse, including slander and threats of sexual violence. Some choose to self-censor and withdraw from public and online spaces.
Journalists in El Salvador are building their own databases, investigating citizen complaints and cultivating anonymous sources to hold the government accountable.
Two court cases seeking closure in the 1982 ambush and murders of four Dutch journalists in El Salvador are currently open in the U.S. and the Central American country.
Lawmakers from the left and the right are drafting ‘foreign agent’ laws they claim protect their national sovereignty. They also threaten independent news outlets that rely on international funding.
Community broadcasters in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras face repression, economic hardship, and lack access to radio frequencies. They’re seeking help from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Microsoft and Google are among the companies asking a California court to reconsider a case they say has global consequences for press freedom and democracy.
Lalo de Almeida of Brazil, Carlos Ernesto Martínez, of Salvadoran investigative site El Faro, John Otis of NPR and the Committee to Protect Journalists in the U.S. and Frances Robles of The New York Times are this year’s recipients of the 2024 Maria Moors Cabot Prize Gold Medals. Special citations go to InSight Crime and Laura Zommer.