Mexican daily newspaper Norte of Ciudad Juárez took down its website Norte Digital on the night of April 4, two days after publishing a farewell editorial in its last printed edition. Both the digital and print versions of the newspaper were closed by director, Óscar Cantú Murguía due to a lack of security for the practice of journalism in the country.
The protests and the crises that followed the decision of the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) to suspend the powers of the National Assembly on Wednesday, March 29, have once again left the press in its most vulnerable position: security forces have assaulted reporters covering the protests, according to reports.
A Mexican police reporter who reported having received threats from organized crime was killed in the state of Guerrero on March 2.
Just days before Ecuador elects a new president, journalist Janet Hinostroza received an explosive device at her workplace.
Although figures on deadly violence against journalists in Colombia continue to decrease – for example, 2016 was the first year of the last seven in which there were no murders of journalists because of their work – the forms of censorship have “mutated” and are far from being overcome in Colombia.
Since Jan. 1, hundreds of Mexicans have taken to the streets of different cities in the country to protest the increase of up to 20 percent in the price of fuel. Some of the protests for the “gasolinazo,” as the demonstrations are known, have become violent, including looting and clashes with police with number of people killed, injured and detained.
For Mexican journalists, covering la nota roja – or the crime beat – goes beyond being exposed to physical dangers. By living and working in high-risk areas, their constant and systematic contact with violence puts their mental health on the line.
In Peru, there is a high level of media concentration that threatens freedom of information in the country, according to a report prepared by Peruvian digital investigative journalism site Ojo Público, in conjunction with the German chapter of the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF for its acronym in French).
Authorities informed Mexican weekly Zeta that a criminal group has ordered an attack on the publication after it published photos of alleged organized crime members on the cover of its Nov. 25 issue, according to Zeta.
In the last week, both Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui and the news site she directs, Aristegui Noticias, have denounced a series of events that, without knowing if they are linked, bring into question how secure the journalist and her team are in the country.
Covering protests, photographing food lines or taking video inside a hospital can be risky for journalists working in Venezuela today. Various reporters and photojournalists working in the country have been subjected to temporary and prolonged detentions in the process of carrying out their jobs in recent months.
“Of all the reasons that provoke violence against journalists, the most important one is impunity, it is the lack of investigation into the acts of violence and assassinations of journalists,” said Frank La Rue, UNESCO assistant director-general for communication and information, in a video commemorating the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, which takes place every Nov. 2.