Antonia Mendez Ardila
Madrid, 30 Oct Freedom of expression in Latin America is at risk, gripped by the killings of dozens of journalists every year, who go unpunished, according to the outgoing president of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), the Honduran Jorge Canahuati.
“This is a very bad time for freedom of expression in Latin America”, where “it has regressed a lot,” Canahuati said in an interview with the EFE Agency in Madrid, where the 78th General Assembly of the IAPA will close this Sunday. .
And in his opinion, a fundamental factor in this setback are the murders of journalists, which will exist “as long as there is impunity (…) until the material and intellectual authors are reached. This is for me the most important source. great motivation for a murder, “he concludes.
Freedom of expression and sustainability of the media, severely affected by the pandemic, were two central themes of the IAPA General Assembly, which began Thursday in Madrid and in which Canahuati will be replaced today by the American Michael Greenspon at the head of the organization.
MURDER PUNISHED
According to the president of the IAPA at the opening of the General Assembly, 39 killings of journalists have been recorded in the last year. But in 90-95% of cases the culprits were not identified, “and this is a great motivator”, says Canahuati, who expresses his “extreme concern” for the violence that has been generated in Mexico, the country he leads, and by far the number of journalists killed.
“It is not possible that a state like Mexico cannot protect those journalists who have actually been documented as threatened (…) and worse still, not being able to clarify them. It is there that questions are asked about the will of some political sectors or some governments “, it is read.
The outgoing president of the IAPA, in office since October 2020, attributes this violence, in part, to “the campaign that has deepened in these years of stigmatization of journalists. From Trump to Bolsonaro, Bukele, and let’s not talk about López Obrador, that he still has a section in his morning program to question journalists instead of being able, as a public official, to clarify or explain the situations that are reported to him “, he denounces.
For this reason, from the IAPA, which collects more than 1,200 newspapers, they insist that states have protection programs for journalists and that they do not let the murders go unpunished.
SUSTAINABLE MEDIA, DEMOCRACY GUARANTEE
For Canahuati, president of Opsa, the main media group in Honduras, the media was one of the sectors most affected by the effects of the pandemic, and especially in Latin America, with countless headlines.
“In Colombia 60% of the communities have no local media, have not been able to support themselves, 30 million Brazilians have no local media and in the United States the information desert is growing day by day, the financial situation is unsustainable media, “he complains.
“We firmly believe that the economic strength of the media not only has a direct impact on freedom of expression (…), but also has a direct impact on the quality of democracy in regions like Latin America,” he concludes. .
Part of this crisis is attributable to the impact that platforms are having, which not only make the information they don’t pay for profitable, but have also taken over most of the advertising, the main source of funding for the media.
For this reason, the IAPA has worked in recent years to “create that public debate” on the role of platforms, with which it asks to negotiate, even if Canahuati does not believe that the agreement “will be so easy”.
And as for fake news, another evil that afflicts journalism, he believes that, in large part, they derive from social networks.
“We thought they would be the ones to save democracy, in that year of the Arab Spring, we saw how they damaged democracy, how they confused many nations or the public, how they polarized or helped polarize,” the Mint .
And he is engaged in a debate on the “moderation” of digital platforms and “a kind of regulatory framework”. However, he believes that the most important thing is that journalists continue their work, with “reliable, credible, balanced information, to bring some peace of mind”. EFE
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