A recent image of the Confidencial homepage. Image: Screenshot
In Cuba and Venezuela, there are dozens of journalists in prison, accused of “terrorism” or “inciting hatred” for reporting on social protests or electoral fraud, and for expressing opinions on their social networks.
Meanwhile, the State exercises different forms of direct and indirect censorship, including blocking the internet to prevent access to independent media. Despite these extreme restrictions, the independent press survives through an ecosystem supported by journalism in exile.
The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) this year awarded the Grand Prize for Press Freedom 2024, its highest distinction, “in honor of colleagues and Latin American media [outlets] that are increasingly forced to move or emigrate due to the violence, threats, and persecution by criminal groups, corrupt officials, and authoritarian governments.”
The onslaught of dictatorships against the press also poses a challenge to the international community: it is imperative to preserve the last reserve of all freedoms.
SIP has documented a growing increase in the number of exiled journalists, “mainly from countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela, Guatemala, Cuba, and Ecuador, and internally displaced people in Mexico and Colombia. The phenomenon also includes the editorial staff of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, some of which have their operations abroad because they are victims of systematic persecution.”
The challenges to continue doing journalism in exile are monumental. The most urgent is to provide security to journalists and collaborators, who are at risk, and to the news sources to communicate through secure channels. The most complex is to achieve financial sustainability of the newsrooms in exile.
My colleague Luz Mely Reyes, editor in chief of Efecto Cocuyo in Venezuela, advocates for identifying “host countries that provide special protection” to exiled journalists so they can continue doing their work, while Carlos Manuel Álvarez, director of El Estornudo in Cuba, proposes the creation of new “support networks” and forms of international financing for the press in exile, which “is no longer something transitory.”
Indeed, under the police state of authoritarian regimes, the press in exile is now a permanent condition. The onslaught of dictatorships against the press also poses a challenge to the international community: it is imperative to preserve the last reserve of all freedoms.
This article — which was first published by WAN-IFRA — was produced to mark World News Day, a campaign to draw attention to the need to preserve and promote independent journalism. Is is republished with permission.
Carlos F. Chamorro is a renowned Nicaraguan journalist and editor of Confidencial. He went into exile in 2019, and settled in Costa Rica, from where he still runs Confidencial, working with a staff scattered in several countries. The website is supported by donations and grants, and is still producing investigative journalism.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=67038c37335140dd87a628645dcd5726&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgijn.org%2Fstories%2Fchallenges-journalism-exile-latin-america%2F&c=13947198449547518450&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-06 20:21:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
