Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) released a statement on its website denouncing the "continuing purge" in Paraguay's public media outlets.
The Paraguayan Journalists' Syndicate (SPP in Spanish) repudiated the intimidation and attack on two journalists by President Federico Franco and his brother, reported the website Crónica Viva.
Paraguay's state-owned TV Pública fired 27 reporters on Tuesday, Sept. 4, according to Reporters Without Borders.
During the Paraguay Resists Social Forum, that took place in the Plaza of Arms, in front of the national Congress, in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Tuesday and Wednesday Aug. 14 and 15, journalists and the Paraguayan press reported a campaign against public and alternative news media ever since President Fernando Lugo was removed from office on June 22 and replaced by Federico Franco in what some have referred to as an administrative coup, reported the newspaper Diario de Carlos Paz.
The Latin American Union of News Agencies (ULAN in Spanish) accused private news media outlets of provoking "small coups" in Latin America and also withdrew membership from the Paraguayan Information state news agency.
On Wednesday, June 27, Reporters Without Borders expressed its concern over for freedom of information in Paraguay after the controversial impeachment and removal -- what some are calling a coup -- of President Fernando Lugo on June 22. Since then, the new government has attempted to censor the public television station TV Pública de Paraguay. The channel was launched as the country's first public TV station in May 2011.
A Paraguayan journalist received a threatening letter at his home on Tuesday, May 8, from the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP in Spanish), reported the radio station 970 AM. The letter said "No to bourgeois journalism, protected by corrupt, nepotistic public officials. The armed struggle continues,” reported the newspaper Última Hora.
On Thursday, April 26, Paraguayan journalists gathered to demand better labor rights, the end of impunity, better quality of information, and more plurality among news media in the country, reported the Paraguayan Union of Journalists.
On the afternoon of Saturday, April 14, a military police officer investigating the killing of a journalist was shot to death by two people on a motorcycle in the city of Ponta Porã in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul on the border with Paraguay.
On Monday, April 9, a known Paraguayan journalist announced his run for presidency for the 2013 elections, confirming that he would leave his 30-year journalistic career behind, reported the Paraguayan News Portal.
A Paraguayan journalist said he received a death threat from Senator Robert Acevedo, reported the newspaper ABC Color on Friday, March 2. The senator denied the accusations, saying that it was an attempt to cause him political harm, added ABC Color.
Brazilian journalist Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues was shot to death during an attack the night of Sunday, Feb. 12, in Ponta Porã in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul on the border with Paraguay, reported Última Hora. Police suspect it was a hired killing.