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REPORTS: LATIN AMERICA |
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Latin
America:
Media
Panel Searches for Optimism
Miriam
Kagan
WASHINGTON,
(IPS) - As radio reports broadcast
charges that one of the targets hit in
U.S. air strikes in Iraq on Wednesday
was a warehouse used by the Al-Jazeera
cable news network, journalists, law
experts and activists gathered here to
discuss dangers faced by the media
half a world away.
U.S. Congressman James Leach opened a
panel discussion on the freedom of the
media in Latin America and the
Caribbean on Thursday by noting, ”to
constrain free thinking today is
harder than it's ever been in human
history. But sometimes, the freedom is
so great, it brings out the worse in
human nature”.
The meeting, sponsored by the
Inter-American Dialogue (IAD), a
centre for policy analysis, exchange
and communication on issues in western
hemisphere affairs, raised more
questions than it provided answers on
the status of journalism and
journalists in the region.
All participants agreed that free and
independent media are absolutely
necessary to economic and political
progress in the hemisphere.
The media are ”an indispensable tool
to favour economic development, which
helps develop democracy”, said
Eduardo Bertoni from the Office of the
Special Rapporteur for Freedom of
Expression at the Organisation of
American States (OAS).
Despite the desirability of an open
and free media, panellists listed
several obstacles to media freedom and
recounted examples of media repression
on a country-by-country basis.
”Conditions have deteriorated in the
last year,” Joel Simon of the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
told the panel.
According to the results of an IAD
survey, in the last year 28
independent journalists were
imprisoned in Cuba, 6 journalists were
killed in Columbia in the last 6
months, and in Haiti, 10 journalists
were forced to leave the country and
several were kidnapped.
In several other countries, including
Panama, Brazil, Chile and Jamaica,
officials attempted to intimidate
journalists through bureaucratic and
military channels.
Guatemalan journalist Luis Alberto
Perez Barillas won the 2003
International Press Freedom Award
earlier this week for his reports on
links between current government
officials and the killings of 200,000
citizens between 1978 and 1984.
He has been in hiding since July,
after his house was firebombed.
Across Latin America, governments are
increasingly attempting to use
criminal prosecution for defamation
and libel (that can carry a sentence
of six-nine years imprisonment in
Honduras) and high punitive damage
awards to discourage reporting that
contradicts the official agenda or
tries to reveal government corruption.
Gustavo Gorriti, a prominent Latin
American journalist currently with the
Instituto de Defensa Legal in Peru,
recounted a recent trip to Panama,
where, upon landing, he received a
judicial order forbidding him from
leaving the country.
He says the order was in retaliation
for his previous work for a Panamanian
newspaper that revealed government
corruption.
According to Gorriti, ”in Panama,
there is a concerted effort to
persecute journalists who try to
investigate corruption. The result is
that corruption has reached scandalous
levels, even by Panamanian
standards”.
Many panellists mentioned a decline in
credibility as the most worrisome new
trend in Latin America and the
Caribbean, with some citing the rise
of ''tabloid” and ”trash”
journalism as one reason for the
development.
A recent comprehensive survey of Latin
America by LatinoBarometro revealed
that in a majority of countries a
smaller percentage of the respondents
than in the previous year considered
their national and local media outlets
credible.
Significantly, the same survey
revealed a simultaneous decline in the
percentage of respondents who believed
democracy was the best form of
government for Latin America.
Another country where media is losing
credibility is Peru, where, says
Gorriti, ”the media reflects the
current state of the country: chaos,
no axis, and the old establishment
recycling itself into new roles”.
But the state of the media in Peru and
Panama pales in comparison to Cuba,
panellists said.
”Cuba has been the most systematic
violator” of journalists' rights,
said Phillip Bennett, foreign editor
of the 'Washington Post'.
Gorriti recounted his recent trip to
Cuba, where travelling as a tourist,
he met with the families of 28
imprisoned journalists. They told him
that wives often have to travel up to
1,000 kms to see the journalists in
prison, only to be turned away upon
arrival.
Several of the journalists with
medical conditions were being given
very poor medical care and denied
medications, said Gorriti.
Another speaker revealed that several
copies of a magazine published by the
wives of the Cuban journalists were in
circulation, providing information,
pictures and histories.
Despite the dark assessments,
panellists expressed hope and optimism
that change was possible.
”While some states take one step
forward, and two, three, four back, it
is evident that the situation now is
much better than during the
dictatorships and therefore it is not
only necessary, but possible to
encourage the states to walk in the
right direction,” said Bertoni.
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