The landscape for freedom of the press and expression has been shaped by coverage of the presidential and parliamentary electoral cycle; the deepening of structural conflicts between the State and media companies; and the persistence of attacks and judicial restrictions on journalistic work. The Torres del Paine Declaration, unanimously adopted in October at the 33rd Meeting of Regional Newspapers, set the framework for the period and anticipated trends that were confirmed in the months that followed.
The period concentrated on the most intense electoral cycle of the four-year term. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on November 16, and the presidential runoff took place on December 14, in which José Antonio Kast prevailed over Jeannette Jara. National and international press described a campaign marked by deep political polarization, which amplified stigmatizing rhetoric against the press, particularly in digital environments.
Although the country did not experience systemic attacks against the press comparable to those seen in electoral cycles in other countries in the region, the climate of digital hostility and tensions with sections of political groups raised concerns about the safety of media professionals.
One of the most serious incidents was the Electoral Service’s (SERVEL) failure to pay regional media outlets that provided services for the publication of electoral rolls in the context of the 2025 process. The National Press Association (ANP, for its Spanish acronym) reported that, after issuing formal purchase orders in October for the publication of these lists, the agency unilaterally suspended the services just 48 hours before publication, even though the media outlets had already completed between 95% and 100% of the agreed work, including layout, design, and front-page reservations.
The ANP described the refusal to pay as a devastating signal from the State toward the regional press and filed a formal complaint before the Public Procurement Tribunal, representing more than a dozen media companies. The seriousness of the episode lies not only in the direct economic harm to already financially strained outlets, but also in the precedent it sets for contractual relations between the State and media companies, affecting the sustainability of a sector whose role in decentralization and media pluralism was reaffirmed in the Torres del Paine Declaration.
The dispute over clipping services contracted by State agencies, previously identified, escalated during the period. In a meeting in April with the Minister Secretary General of Government, Mara Sedini, the ANP reiterated its complaint regarding the illegal contracting of these services. It warned that the public sector hires monitoring companies that reproduce and commercialize full journalistic content without authorization from rights holders, constituting a direct violation of Law No. 17,336 on Intellectual Property.
The association criticized the State’s double standard, which requires strict software licensing in its procurement processes but omits the same requirement for press content, effectively normalizing the expropriation of media outlets’ intellectual work. The use of unlicensed clipping services not only infringes intellectual property rights but also undermines media sustainability by unlawfully replacing them in the market, and it called on the State to comply with existing law.
At the end of 2025, the Office of the Comptroller General, which audits the legality of State actions, chose not to rule on the ANP’s formal request identifying certain procurement processes as tainted by illegality due to the contracting of clipping services without requiring or supervising licensing compliance, which the organization argued constitutes a breach of probity.
During this period, new incidents were recorded confirming the previously noted trend of attacks. On December 11, a Channel 13 news team composed of a reporter and a cameraman was the victim of a violent assault and robbery in downtown Santiago while carrying out field reporting. The cameraman was struck with his own tripod, and both professionals required medical attention.
In April, following the attack on the Minister of Science, Ximena Lincolao, at the Austral University of Chile, the Valdivia Guarantee Court prohibited media present in the courtroom from mentioning the names of the defendants. This measure reignited debate over judicial restrictions on the coverage of cases of public interest, in line with concerns raised in the Torres del Paine Declaration regarding the expansive use of the presumption of innocence as a barrier to the public’s right to information.
These incidents reinforce ongoing structural concerns about the lack of significant progress in the legislative process of the bill to protect journalists and communications workers, which remains pending approval in the Senate despite broad cross-sector support.
Law No. 21,719 on Personal Data Protection, which regulates the processing, collection, storage, and transfer of personal data by public and private entities, is scheduled to enter into force on December 1. Media companies advanced in the technological, organizational, and contractual adjustments required by the new regulation, focusing on the appointment of a Data Protection Officer, the record of processing activities, privacy impact assessments, and breach notification protocols.
While the law exempts the processing of personal data for journalistic purposes, the operational challenge remains to clearly distinguish between informational and commercial activities and to establish consistent criteria for exercising rights of access, rectification, erasure, and objection in relation to journalistic archives and databases. No substantive progress has yet been made in the establishment and appointment of members of the Data Protection Agency, leaving uncertainty regarding the interpretive standards the authority will apply in its initial oversight actions.
Other relevant events:
On November 16, during the first round of the presidential elections, a reporter from the private channel Mega was prevented from continuing interviews and was subsequently forced to leave Colegio María Auxiliadora in Viña del Mar while delivering a live report during voting day.
On November 19, a reporter from the morning show Tu Día on Channel 13 was subjected to verbal harassment and physical aggression while covering events in the Meiggs neighborhood, in the municipality of Estación Central, during a police operation aimed at preventing the installation of street vendors in the area. The journalist was aggressively confronted by individuals on site, and one person struck the microphone.
On January 3, a Televisión Nacional (TVN) correspondent was physically assaulted by the mother of a missing young man whose body was found in Lake Llanquihue, in the municipality of Puerto Varas. The woman and two other individuals accompanying her attacked the journalist.
On January 12, during coverage of the forced eviction of plots 11, 13, and 15 in a port city in the Valparaíso Region, a TVN news team was attacked with projectiles. That same day, a Channel 13 reporter and cameraman were confronted by an unidentified group who demanded that they leave the area and warned that otherwise their camera would be stolen.
The following day, a reporter and cameraman from the morning show Contigo en la mañana on Chilevisión, who were interviewing residents under eviction orders, were threatened by a hooded individual holding a stick and a stone.
On February 10, a journalist from TVN received threats from a user on the social network X, @FranciscoBlas25, who named the journalist on a list of people he would execute if there were a dictatorship in Chile.
On March 12, journalist Alejandra Valle, from the YouTube program La Voz de los que Sobran, reported being harassed while in a public space during the presidential inauguration day, and the incident was later amplified on social media, where her journalistic credibility was questioned.
