Dominican Republic

Levels of intolerance to the exercise of a free press have escalated in the last six months in the form of assaults, threats and pressure. The highlight was the authorization issued by judge Felipe Molina Abreu to allow the Public Ministry to get law enforcement to enter the offices of journalists Nuria Piera and Huchi to retrieve videos of records related to an investigation the reporters were conducting on the quality of milk served in breakfasts in public schools. This attempt, stopped by an injunction, has been repudiated by the community of journalists. This judicial attempt, which violated confidentiality when dealing with sources, was presented in the course of a defamation and libel lawsuit. This is part of a growing trend to frighten the independent press. Many of these trials end up with acquittal sentences for journalists and media outlets, but reporters have to face long and tedious situations that affect their work and it is feared that reporters may be deterred from tackling sensitive stories relating to groups and individuals. Several defamation lawsuits against journalists were not accepted, such as those against the Managing Director of the evening newspaper El Nacional, Domingo del Pilar, and a reporter of this daily, Aquino Royo, and against journalist Alicia Ortega, favored by a court ruling which dismissed a 300 million pesos lawsuit filed by an organization that thought the journalistic investigation damaged its interests. Governor Santiago Rafael Caba Abreu ordered the TV show “Hablando en Serio” (Serious talking), produced and hosted by Eduardo Castellanos and broadcast in the province of Montecristi be taken off the air after it criticized the official. The Dominican Journalists Association (CDP) managed to get the show back on the air. The governor was then ousted by president Leonel Fernandez. Reporter Manuel Antonio Vega from the province of Hato Mayor was subpoenaed by representative Santiago Velorio Lizardo to turn over audiovisual material of several episodes of his show on the Channel 10 of Varo Vision. The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP), the Journalists Association and representatives of organizations of the civil society have denounced the attempts to constrain the free practice of journalism. The SNTP has drawn attention to the growing pressure, threats and assaults against reporters, photographers and cameramen, that has reached 53 cases so far this year.