Miami (February 9, 2023) - This week, Bolivia was the country with the best climate for freedom of expression on the continent, while Haiti was dyed red on the IAPA Bot heat map due to the disappearance of Radio Visión 2000 journalist Jean Thony Lorthé.
The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) denounced increased cases of violence against Colombian journalists. Furthermore, according to a report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Colombia and Mexico were the most dangerous countries to practice journalism.
In January, the NGO Espacio Público registered 34 violations of freedom of the press in Venezuela. Among these cases is journalist Carolina Briceño of the newspaper El Nacional, who fled to Bogotá after receiving threats for her investigations and now fears deportation.
In Argentina, the National Academy of Journalism (ANP) and the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA) repudiated the attacks against journalist Mariana Abiuso, who has been the victim of harassment due to her coverage of the murder of a five-year-old boy.
On the other hand, a Peruvian journalist and a photographer were assaulted by the police while covering an anti-government demonstration in Lima.
When analyzing Twitter conversations, the most popular topic was "freedom of expression" (800 mentions), followed by "fake news" (638) and "fake news" (485). This week the most relevant tweet was written by the U.S. activist group Project Veritas. They denounced that YouTube deleted a video in which they showed that a criminal search warrant was issued against one of their journalists.
IAPA Bot is an artificial intelligence tool of the Inter American Press Association that monitors press freedom violations in real-time. It tracks information published in the media, Google News, Twitter, and from a selection of IAPA notes and denunciations. In addition, it contains a heat map that allows observing the press freedom climate in each country, a button to make complaints, and a menu that highlights the statements of government leaders, citizens' conversations, and relevant events.
IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications in the Western Hemisphere, based in Miami, Florida, United States
