Freedom of the press is going through a very precarious moment - due to judicial harassment and economic choking by the government against independent media.
78th General Assembly
October 27 – 30, 2022
Madrid, Spain
Freedom of the press is going through a very precarious moment - due to judicial harassment and economic choking by the government against independent media.
In this context, the newspaper Los Tiempos, of Cochabamba, denounced a takeover attempt - allegedly by one of its shareholders linked to the ruling party - judicial and fiscal harassment, as well as economic choking by the government in trying to silence it.
In the case of the century-old newspaper El Diario, the fiscal harassment spread to its advertisers - who have been threatened by the government in order to keep them from advertising in the newspaper. In addition, the fiscal authority systematically ignores the payment of previous debts made by the newspaper - in an attempt to subdue the media and choke it financially.
Government policies continue to deny independent media outlets access to the advertising budget managed by the Office of the President. On the other hand, it strengthens the economies of friendly national and international media chains and rural radio stations that comprise a communications machine parallel to the state-owned radio, television, print and digital media.
Worthy of concern is the allocation of state advertising to large digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and other social networks, instead of allocating these resources to the country's media - which could use them to strengthen themselves and alleviate the forced reduction of personnel due to the financial crisis they are experiencing.
In September, there were three cases of injunctions aimed at breaking the confidentiality of the sources of information - protected by the Print Law. Judges, prosecutors and lawyers tried to force journalists to reveal their sources of information on cases of public health, corruption and the death of a person in police custody.
The National Press Association (ANP) rejected the injunctions and backed the journalists, expressing surprise that the injunctions came from legal professionals and judicial authorities in charge of preserving the constitutional principles and the existing laws.
This vulnerability in the face of a sluggish justice system not prone to rule in favor of freedom of the press was experienced by several journalists. A year ago, six journalists were kidnapped and tortured in the department of Santa Cruz - while covering a violent land confiscation. The courts freed two intellectual and material authors of the outrage - and the victims were left waiting for a reparation ruling.
Journalists from different cities and organizations held demonstrations and demanded that authorities respect the Constitution and the Print Law - in support of journalistic work and freedom of the press.
