The hostile climate toward the press persists under the state of exception, with a continued pattern of digital harassment, stigmatization, and restrictions on the practice of journalism. These conditions have also forced dozens of journalists into exile in recent years.
Fear and caution prevail among independent journalists and media outlets amid the strengthening of government propaganda, pressure, harassment, and the lack of transparency under President Nayib Bukele’s administration. Journalists investigating corruption, human rights, and security issues face particular risks. Aggressions, arbitrary arrests, cyberattacks, and other forms of intimidation against journalists and communicators have also been documented.
According to figures from the Monitoring Center for Attacks against Journalists of the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), at least 210 attacks against the press were recorded between January and July 15, 2026. The most frequent forms were stigmatizing statements, with 68 cases; digital harassment, with 45; defamation, with 26; harassment in physical spaces, with 20; and insults, with 13. APES has identified senior Executive Branch officials as the main source of attacks.
Despite the deterioration of freedom of expression and press freedom, independent journalism remains active. Some media outlets continue to investigate and publish, although they do so amid increased pressure, restrictions, and risks. Among the forms of intimidation identified is criminalization through the improper use of criminal law and the filing of complaints that press organizations consider unfounded. This is the case of constitutional lawyer Salvador Enrique Anaya Barraza, a columnist for El Diario de Hoy, who has been imprisoned for more than a year, and anti-corruption lawyer Ruth Eleonora López, an information source for numerous media outlets, who has been detained since May 2025.
The state of press freedom is also reflected in international rankings. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked El Salvador 143rd out of 180 countries in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index. The country fell eight places from the previous ranking. RSF also notes that President Bukele has classified public information as confidential, despite constitutional protections for freedom of expression.
Forced displacement is another form of pressure on journalism. In 2025, APES documented the exile of more than 40 journalists, a figure that, according to journalistic analyses, represents the largest wave of communicators forced to leave the country since the end of the civil war three decades ago.
The Foreign Agents Law, approved in 2025, created a Foreign Agents Registry and established a 30% tax on agents covered by the law. The measure has been challenged by organizations that warn it could affect independent media, civil society organizations, and groups receiving international cooperation. APES moved its legal registration outside El Salvador because of this law and the escalation of pressure.
Media outlets and journalists have also reported restrictions on access to official events and difficulties obtaining public information, particularly regarding security and government actions. Press organizations report that officials deny information to journalists, limit access to press conferences, and show greater openness toward media outlets considered aligned with the government.
Radio stations and community media face additional difficulties stemming from financial strangulation, technical harassment, and self-censorship.
Investigative journalism remains active, although some of its practitioners work from abroad. El Faro, for example, has continued publishing investigations and moved part of its operations outside the country after years of pressure.
The absence of recent killings of journalists does not eliminate other risks to the practice of journalism. Threats, digital harassment, surveillance, access restrictions, the abusive use of judicial proceedings, and exile can limit journalistic work even in the absence of lethal violence. Criticism and questioning on social media are overwhelmed by armies of trolls and anonymous or seemingly pro-government accounts that resort to insults, obscenities, and threats against journalists, particularly women.
The government has rejected various allegations and questioned the independence or motivations of critical media outlets and organizations. This position contrasts with the assessments of national and international organizations describing a deterioration in the conditions for practicing journalism.
The Legislative Assembly, dominated by the ruling party, has approved a series of laws over the past five years that, according to press and human rights organizations, have restricted or hindered the work of independent media, particularly regarding access to information and oversight of potential corruption in government works and projects. At the same time, institutions that facilitated access to public information have been weakened or dismantled.
Overall, journalism is practiced in a restrictive environment marked by criminalization, surveillance, limitations on access to information, economic and legal pressure, digital harassment, and exile.
