Venezuela’s oldest daily newspaper, El Impulso, is the latest publication to narrowly avert a shutdown amid an ongoing newsprint (paper) shortage that has affected nearly 40 newspapers and magazines across the country over the past year.
A leading Venezuelan newspaper that was recently sold to anonymous investors appears to be shifting its opposition editorial line weeks after pledging not to. The managing editor at El Universal, Elides Rojas, told the International Press Institute (IPI) that the newspaper’s new president had “ordered a complete revision of the opinion section” and had suspended or dismissed editorial staff.
Private news enterprises have weathered a long history of crippling attacks from the Venezuelan government. Some media owners are now giving up and selling their properties.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) called on the Inter American Court of Human Rights to sentence the Venezuelan government for having unlawfully shut down TV network RCTV in 2007.
On World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3, Venezuela’s Press and Society Institute (IPYS) launched a new chapter of the digital platform Poderopedia, which helps visualize the connections that exist between powerful people in the country, the organization reported. The platform collects and charts information about political and business leaders in the nation, revealing conflicts of interest, spheres of influence and other connections.
Venezuelan newspaper El Universal declared itself in a state of emergency on Monday May 5 due to a lack of newsprint, saying their current inventory would allow them to publish for two more weeks at the most, according to a statement by the paper. El Universal will need to cut down its print edition to two sections of eight pages each, with the rest of the content published online.
With the purpose of bypassing the censorship and self-censorship that ail Venezuelan news outlets since the country's mass protests began in February this year, a group of Latin American journalists developed a new site that taps into social media to inform about the crisis.
After being kidnapped for eight days, Venezuelan journalist Nairobi Pinto was safely released today April 14, Globovisión reported. Pinto was freed in the city of Cúa, where she was met and taken care of by municipal police and then moved to Caracas.
Venezuelan journalist and Globovisión newsroom editor Nairobi Pinto was kidnapped by three masked and armed men on Sunday April, 5 news agency Venezuela Al Día reported.
The Colombian newspaper association Andiarios on April 1 sent 52 tons of newsprint paper from Cartagena to Venezuelan newspapers affected by the lack of printing paper in the country.
Three reporters resigned from Venezuelan TV station Globovisión on Mar. 28 in protest against the channel’s alleged censorship practices and the dismissal of their team of cameramen and technicians.
For Marianela Balbi, executive director of the Institute of Press and Society (IPYS) in Venezuela, the government of President Nicolás Maduro is censoring critical media outlets -- with tactics like the blockage of live broadcasts of the protests -- in an effort to prevent more people from joining the manifestations.