Conclusions

Violence against the physical integrity of journalists and a growing intolerance of authoritarian governments constitute the primary problems that face the independent press today on the continent. In effect, thirteen journalists were murdered in the past six months in Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, and Ecuador for the simple fact that they were doing their work. And a ferocious offensive headed by the very presidents of the countries attempts to silence independent journalism in Argentina, Ecuador, and Venezuela through regulatory legislation, discrimination in official advertising, and immense state-run and private media mechanisms used to slander and carry out dirty campaigns. There is concern over reforms that are being considered by the Organization of American States (OAS) to modify the Inter American System on Human Rights, which could weaken the work of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) related to the defense of freedom of expression, as well as the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of that organization. In Cuba, the policy of fear-mongering continues, with the arrest in September of 533 dissidents, while in Haiti, Venezuela, Honduras, and Peru there is a high level of violence against the press. In turn, in Mexico, aggressive acts, threats, and attacks represent the major evil. Press laws that restrict the work of journalists are being promoted in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, and Uruguay. In Ecuador the justice system lacks impartiality and it continues to attack media and journalists under a hostile official discourse that produces self-censorship, while in Brazil the justice system continues to issue decisions against the media to prohibit them from disseminating information In Argentina, the president continues to fail to offer press conferences and she abuses national television hook-ups for announcements not contemplated under the Constitution, in addition to manipulating official statistics and maintaining an expensive communications apparatus often used to attack her critics. Threats to the independent press may have a dark chapter in the month of December, when the government intends to move againsts the audiovisual media of the Clarín Group, ignoring judicial decisions and legal rules. Those media are the very few that report independently from the official line. In Nicaragua and Venezuela official advertising is placed with friendly media and denied to critical ones, while secrecy and a lack of access to public information persist.