The economic situation was already in trouble, but the virus aggravated it, relegating the search for solutions for the subsistence of the media. On March 1, the new government of Luis Lacalle Pou took office, but on March 13 the first cases of Covid-19 were registered and this marked the official priority.
The newspaper El Observador, which has been published since October 22, 1991, closed its print edition. The daily bet on his digital edition for news coverage and kept his Saturday edition with a "arrevistado" (magazine like) profile.
Added to the financial problem of the media is the phenomenon of fake news.
On April 23, Channel 12 journalist Iliana da Silva, who was attributed a political motivation, was the victim of a "lynching" and threats through the networks for the coverage of a food delivery in Plaza Libertad, where there were children, women and men.
On June 17, journalist Gabriel Pereyra, of VTV, the weekly search and radio Sarandí, received death threats through a call that came from the Libertad prison. The police managed to identify the inmate and the woman who bought the chip and and made it reach the interior of the prison.
On August 14, President Lacalle Pou revoked the assignment of three television channels that had been made by former President Tabaré Vázquez, 15 days before the end of his term. Thirteen cable operators had indicated that the awards were "invalid due to incompetence." The National Institute of Human Rights had warned that the contest for the TV licenses was carried out by a body that was not competent, in addition to objections of opportunity, because it had occurred a few days after a change of government.
