“Good morning. This is the El Bus TV newscast, we’ve come to bring you these headlines.”
May 26 marked 56 days of continuous protests against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, during which journalists face aggression from police, armed collectives and protesters alike.
Chilean-Venezuelan journalist Braulio Jatar, who has been in jail since Sept. 3, 2016, has been released and is under house arrest.
The Venezuelan journalism community is rallying for justice for young social communicator Miguel Castillo who was killed during a recent protest in Caracas.
Venezuelan journalist Yonathan Guédez was released on April 26 after being detained for 16 days at one of the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).
Young Venezuelan journalist Yonathan Guédez (22), arrested on April 10 along with 30 protesters in one of the Venezuelan social demonstrations against the recent measures adopted by the Supreme Court, remains in prison, according to various local and national media outlets.
When Periscope launched in March 2015, it was not long before print and digital media saw an opportunity to cover events live and in real-time, a space previously dominated by television news companies.
In the final days of March 2017, several journalists were assaulted during anti-government protests in Venezuela, but recent attacks on journalists in this country have not been exclusively physical. Earlier in the month, a series of cyberattacks forced several Venezuelan independent media outlets to temporarily shut down their websites.
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.
Venezuela’s National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) has ordered the suspension of CNN en Español and has kicked the network out of the country. Additionally, Andrés Eloy Méndez González, director general of the entity, said on Feb. 16 that the network will also be blocked on the internet.
Journalist Leandro Stoliar of Rede Record, who was detained in Venezuela while reporting on allegations of corruption, said he was treated "as a prisoner, a criminal" during the 30 hours he was detained. Stoliar said the press is not free to work in the country, where "information is a crime."
Venezuelan authorities deported Spanish freelance journalist Aitor Sáez ahead of protests planned for Jan. 23, continuing a pattern of treatment towards international journalists prior to mass demonstrations.