December 26, 2025
December 26, 2025
This year ends with the stark certainty that journalism in the Americas is no longer forced to defend itself only against bullets, censorship, or prison cells. It now confronts a more insidious threat: economic suffocation has become a new form of violence—quieter, less visible, but equally effective in silencing independent voices.
The disappearance of a media outlet is never merely a business failure. It is, above all, a defeat for society’s right to know. When independent journalism weakens or vanishes, public debate erodes, accountability fades, and authoritarian tendencies find fertile ground to expand unchecked. A democracy without strong media is a democracy deprived of one of its most essential safeguards.
Throughout the year, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) maintained an active and visible presence through international missions to Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, and the United States—countries where pressures against journalists and media outlets have intensified through legal harassment, disproportionate lawsuits, regulatory abuse, and stigmatization from the highest levels of power. This deterioration has been even more severe in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, where governments openly deny their citizens the right to live under democratic norms and systematically suppress independent journalism.
We have consistently and forcefully denounced State persecution and the violence of organized crime, shown in murders, threats, and forced silence, in environments where governments fail to provide even the most basic protection to journalists. This failure is compounded by persistent impunity, which fuels a vicious cycle of violence by signaling that crimes against journalists carry no real consequences. As a result, an increasing number of reporters are being forced into exile simply to preserve their lives and continue their work.
Against this backdrop, the IAPA marked significant advances in the fight against impunity and in the pursuit of truth, memory, and justice. This year, settlement agreements were reached with the State of Colombia to provide reparations to the families of journalist Julio Daniel Chaparro Hurtado and photographer Jorge Enrique Torres Navas, murdered in 1991, as well as to the family of Guillermo Cano, the editor assassinated by drug traffickers in 1986. These agreements represent essential steps toward accountability, reaffirming that crimes against journalists cannot be erased by time and that justice remains an inalienable right.
Recognizing the growing reality of forced displacement, the IAPA also sought concrete responses to the challenges of exile journalism. Among them stands the creation of the Latin American Network of Journalism in Exile (RELPEX), an initiative designed to support displaced journalists so they can continue fulfilling their professional mission with independence, dignity, and resilience. RELPEX is not only a support mechanism; it is a statement of principle: exile must never mean silence.
This crisis is no longer confined to Latin America. In the United States, journalism has ceased to be a distant observer and has become a direct target within the same global drama. The First Amendment, once considered an impenetrable shield, has proven vulnerable to sustained political attacks aimed at discrediting the press and undermining freedom of expression. In this context, the experience of Latin American editors—long accustomed to resisting authoritarian pressure—has become an indispensable source of insight and strength for American newsrooms.
The financial sustainability of journalism remains the Achilles’ heel of press freedom. Challenges once posed by the internet and social media have been magnified by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence. While AI offers extraordinary opportunities for innovation and efficiency, it also raises urgent ethical and economic questions. Developers and platforms must establish fair compensation mechanisms for the use of journalistic content. Technology can only truly innovate within free and democratic systems; without quality journalism, algorithms risk amplifying misinformation rather than knowledge.
Throughout the year, we strengthened our cooperation, training, and monitoring initiatives, while expanding our participation in key public debates on press freedom, digital transformation, and the future of the media industry. None of these efforts would be possible without the sustained support of our member organizations, institutional partners, and the tireless work of journalists who, with courage and professionalism, honor this mission every day.
Looking ahead, 2026 emerges as both a challenging and transformative period. Press freedom must no longer be portrayed as an obstacle to power. On the contrary, states have an obvious obligation to protect it, recognizing that it is the foundation of the public’s right to know, as enshrined in most of the constitutions throughout the Americas. Freedom of expression is not a concession granted by the State; it is a pillar that sustains democracy itself.
The moment calls for unity. Media outlets, journalists, press associations, digital platforms, and governments must work together. Faced with a coordinated assault on truth, collective action is the only path forward. At the IAPA, we reaffirm our commitment to the principles of the Declarations of Chapultepec and Salta, with the conviction that seeking the truth and informing freely are not only rights—but duties demanded by our profession and by democracy.
The 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 from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.