Honduras

Press freedom is constantly threatened in Honduras, but there have been no major problems in the practice of journalism or the reporting of news by the written or broadcast media. The theoretical threat comes from a journalists’ colegio which demands obligatory licensing of journalists, although more than half of the working journalists are not members of the colegio and have not been sanctioned. Well-known journalists who had left media outlets after reporting on government or political repression are back in the forefront of national newscasts, perhaps in better positions than before. On February 6, the program "Interpretando la Noticia” on Radio América directed by Eduardo Maldonado, was closed. He said he left because of “persecution, censorship and control” by the government. He reported that this persecution continued when he wanted to broadcast the same program on radio stations Reloj and STC the following two weeks. The program had already suffered a serious blow when David Romero Elner, who had been Maldonado’s partner, had to flee the country in the middle of last year because of legal problems not connected with reporting. On October 7, television channel Voz e Imagen de Centro América, VICA, and radio station La Voz de Centroamérica, which are located in the same building in San Pedro Sula, were closed by a municipal order. They remained off the air for 4 ½ hours The city charged that they had failed to pay their taxes and said those responsible for the closure incorrectly associated the name VICA with both the radio and television stations. The company reported the closure to the prosecutor’s office, and it is looking into the case. Germán Antonio Rivas, managing director of Corporación Maya Visión, Canal 7, in Santa Rosa de Copán in the western part of the country, was attacked on February 24, when he arrived home at night. A subject shot at him but did not wound him. Rivas is director of the news show CMV Noticias. The attack was reported to the police, but there is no information about who was responsible for the attack.