2003 World Press Freedom Review_Overview of The Americas
By Michael Kudlak
In a year that was overshadowed by the war in Iraq, violent attacks on journalists working in the Americas continued with impunity.
Seventeen journalists were killed in the Americas in 2003. Nine were murdered in Colombia alone, four in Brazil, two in Guatemala, and one each in Costa Rica and Honduras. Others were threatened, forced to go into hiding or exile, or physically attacked by corrupt officials, organised criminals and others seeking to prevent the media from exposing their activities.
Apart from threats or violent attacks, journalists were also confronted with legal, administrative and economic harassment.
Journalists in Latin America had to contend with a rash of lawsuits, including charges of criminal libel and defamation. So-called "desacato" or insult laws protecting the honour of public officials remain on the statute books in many countries and the fact that they are frequently used to harass critical journalists has led to a climate of intimidation in which self-censorship is commonplace.
Moreover, new legislation adverse to freedom of expression and of the press, including laws that limit the definition of a journalist to those holding a degree from an accredited journalism school or require journalists to belong to special associations in order to exercise their profession, were passed or under consideration by a number of legislatures. Journalists in several countries complained of government restrictions on access to public information, often the result of anti-terrorist legislation introduced in response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
In Argentina, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay, among other countries, governments were accused of granting or withholding official advertising to influence media coverage.
In some countries, notably Argentina and Bolivia, excessive use of force by the police or army was also a cause for concern.
Once again, Colombia proved to be the most hazardous country in the Americas in which to work as a journalist. Particularly in the provinces, journalists who attempted to expose corruption and other illegal activities, or report on the country’s civil war, continued to face threats, harassment and violent attacks. Nine journalists were killed this year, at least seven of them because of their work. Increasingly, journalists were singled out as "military targets" by right-wing paramilitary groups and leftist guerrillas who used intimidation and violence to ensure favourable coverage by the media.
The repression of Cuba’s beleaguered independent press by Fidel Castro’s Communist government and state security apparatus continued unabated in 2003. A massive crackdown on dissidents and journalists in March resulted in the sentencing of 28 journalists to prison terms ranging from 14 to 27 years. The move was widely condemned by press freedom and human rights groups as a blatant attempt to silence the critical voice of the regime’s opponents while world attention was focussed on the war in Iraq.
Elsewhere, the ongoing economic crisis in Argentina has had a massive impact on the media. The government imposition of a 21 per cent value-added tax on the sale of newspapers in 2001 has only served to exacerbate the situation, media outlets complained. Apart from financial difficulties, journalists were subjected to threats, violent attacks, abuses by police and a barrage of litigation.
In Brazil, where four journalists were killed over a period of just two months, journalists working outside the urban centres of Rio de Janeiro and Săo Paulo continued to face threats, harassment and physical attacks at the hands of local power brokers, drug traffickers and other criminal elements.
The Chilean media, long shackled by Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship, was generally able to operate freely, although journalists condemned a draft privacy bill, approved by Chile’s lower house, as a serious setback for freedom of expression. Dubbed the "gag law", the bill provides for fines and possible jail sentences for media outlets and journalists found guilty of "illegitimate interference" into a person’s privacy.
In Guatemala, where two journalists were killed, the end of the 36-year civil war in 1996 has not brought about a reprieve for the media. The country remains one of the most dangerous places in the Americas in which to practice journalism, and press freedom abuses increased in the months leading up to the presidential elections in November.
In Mexico, the end of 71 years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 2000 has led to an improvement in press freedom. However, libel remains a criminal offence and is frequently used against journalists, while reporters investigating drug trafficking and corruption, especially in the northern states bordering the U.S., continued to face threats and physical attacks.
The departure of president Alberto Fujimori has led to a freer and more independent media in Peru, although libel remains a criminal offence and is frequently used to harass journalists. Other journalists received threats because of their investigative reporting, resulting in some self-censorship.
Relations between President Hugo Chávez and Venezuela’s privately-owned and largely pro-opposition media continued to deteriorate during 2003. During a crippling 63-day strike, called in December 2002 by a number of business, labour and civic organisations in an attempt to force Chávez’s resignation, the private media actively backed the opposition, with television networks broadcasting hours of pro-strike and anti-Chávez programming. Chávez, in turn, lashed out at the media on his nationwide radio and television programmes, and threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of the four main TV stations. Even before the end of the strike, the stations found themselves the subjects of administrative investigations and faced fines and possible suspension or cancellation of their licenses.
Two proposed laws, the bill on Social Responsibility in Radio and Television, commonly known as the Media Content Law, and a Law of Citizen Participation, which would set up a news media oversight council authorised to penalise print media that did not report in a "true and impartial" manner, were widely condemned by free press groups as further blatant attempts to exert control over Venezuela’s media.
Canada’s journalists complained of government restrictions on access to public records and information, and expressed concern over the increasing willingness of police to seize videotapes, photographs, notes and other material collected by reporters.
In the United States, the war in Iraq dominated the media scene in 2003. Thousands of journalists, either "embedded" with U.S. or British troops or travelling and reporting independently as "unilaterals", covered the U.S.-led military campaign, making it the most extensively reported war in history. At least 14 journalists, including two Americans, were killed before combat operations in Iraq were declared over on 1 May. Another five journalists, including one U.S. reporter, were to die in Iraq before the end of the year.
Other issues that occupied America’s journalists during the year included increasing restrictions on access to information, begun after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and the plans of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to relax decades-old rules that prevent common ownership of daily newspapers and broadcast stations in the same city and limit the number of radio and television stations a company can own in a single market. Critics claimed deregulation would further concentrate information in the hands of a few media giants, while supporters said the emergence of cable TV stations and the Internet ensured competition and a diversity of views.
The detention of numerous foreign journalists at U.S. borders, and their forcible deportation to their home countries because they did not have long-term visas, was widely condemned by U.S. and international media organisations and prompted the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), among others, to call on Congress in its annual renewal of the Visa Waiver Program for Visitors from Friendly Countries to add journalists to the many professions who do not need a visa for short stays in the United States.