The president of the National Association of Journalists of Peru, Zuliana Lainez, talked about the current situation of independent journalism in Latin America, the persistent judicial harassment against the press, and the current crisis of confidence in the media in Peru.
Investigatour Amazonía, an initiative created by Convoca in Peru and replicated by Fundamedios in Ecuador, aims to encourage the training of journalists from Amazon regions. The focus is on data journalism, digital narratives and security so that journalists can develop in-depth stories on environmental conflicts and organized crime suffered by their communities.
Feature stories by El Espectador (Colombia), IDL-Reporteros (Peru) and Réporter Brasil (Brazil) won the Gabo 2023 Award in Text, Image, and Coverage categories, respectively. The awards gala also honored journalist Jennifer Ávila (Honduras) and denounced injustices against Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, who has been imprisoned for almost a year.
The Bruno and Dom Project, led by the French organization Forbidden Stories, brought together more than 50 journalists from 16 news outlets to continue the work of British journalist Dom Phillips, who was with Brazilian Indigenous affairs expert Bruno Pereira when the two were murdered in June 2022. LJR spoke with some of the journalists involved in this collaborative effort.
Peru's parliamentarians launched various attacks to restrict press freedom, and journalist associations are resisting as best they can. A controversial bill may fail in Congress, but other threatening initiatives remain under discussion, reflecting deteriorating democratic conditions in the country.
Two journalists analyzed in depth the discourse of rulings for change of name and gender of trans people in Peru. They told LJR about the challenges of analyzing 208 sentences through data journalism, while taking care of their own mental health in the process.
Journalists Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, from Colombia, and Graciela Tiburcio Loayza, from Peru, share personal testimonies about judicial harassment they have been subjected to for years for practicing their profession. These are the consequences of making public allegations of abuse and sexual harassment against powerful men.
Quechua journalists and scholars denounced the Peruvian mainstream media’s coverage of recent political protests, alleging a lack of representation for Indigenous voices in the news. Quechua doctoral students at the University of Texas hosted a webinar on Feb. 20 featuring Indigenous journalists and scholars from various regions of the country.
A little more than a month after the departure of President Pedro Castillo, the Peruvian press has experienced more than 70 cases of aggressions including beatings, insults and vandalism of equipment and facilities by demonstrators, as well as threats, obstruction of coverage and even an attack with rubber bullets by police officers.
Using satellite imagery and geo-referencing, following the trail of trafficking networks and taking care for the safety of journalist and sources are techniques that journalists Yvette Sierra of Mongabay, Joseph Poliszuk of Armando.Info and freelancer Hyury Potter have applied in their investigations of illegal mining in Latin America.