2022: A Tragic Year for the Press in Latin America

Article at El Diario de Hoy, published on 17 December 2022: https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/prensa-libertad-de-el-salvador-latinoamerica-/1025178/2022/

“The year 2022 has been the most violent in the past two decades for the press in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

This is the stark conclusion of the most recent statement from the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), in collaboration with other organizations dedicated to safeguarding press freedom and independent journalism.

According to this statement, journalism is facing unprecedented challenges in Latin America’s relatively short democratic history. In some places, the threat takes the form of restricted access to information; in others, it manifests as stigmatizing rhetoric; and in the most extreme cases, it comes in the form of bullets.

In 2022, FLIP recorded at least 37 journalist killings due to their work. Most of these occurred in Mexico, the country that continues to account for the highest number of journalist deaths.

According to data from FLIP, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Reporters Without Borders, 13 journalists have been murdered in Mexico so far this year. This makes 2022 the deadliest year on record since tracking began in 2000, surpassing the previous peak in 2017, when 12 journalists were killed.

But beyond killings and imprisonments, other major concerns have shaped 2022, casting a dark shadow over the region.

The Return of Strongman Rule

FLIP warns that one defining feature of 2022 has been the resurgence of authoritarian strongman-style political regimes.

After three decades of democratization efforts, a new wave of discontent and distrust in democratic institutions has taken hold across the hemisphere. Political systems built on checks and balances and independent institutions are being replaced by centralized, authoritarian regimes.

FLIP identifies the usual suspects in this category: Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, all of which have a recent history of democratic backsliding and, according to many, varying degrees of dictatorship.

However, the organization also highlights El Salvador as one of its greatest concerns, describing the country’s situation as “especially critical.”

In these nations, FLIP notes, “we see multiple leaders employing a strategy of turning the messenger into the message. They consistently use anti-press rhetoric as a central tool in their official discourse.”

This rhetoric, FLIP argues, “weakens public debate, inhibits the flow and plurality of ideas,” and “contributes to an environment that allows violence against journalists to go unpunished.”

It is unsurprising, then, that in countries where systematic and widespread hostility toward independent voices prevails, journalists face relentless harassment—not only from public officials and anonymous or fake accounts but also from radicalized citizens who have been led to believe that journalists are the enemy.

FLIP also highlights that in these countries, including El Salvador, journalists face “trumped-up charges and trials without due process, often brought by judicial systems that serve as political extensions of the executive branch.”

Disinformation, Surveillance, and Outright Violence

Another significant concern for FLIP is the existence of well-funded, systematic disinformation efforts designed to discredit journalism and erode public trust in the press.

“Governments are deploying troll armies to carry out smear campaigns against media outlets and journalists. These strategies impact people’s right to access information and distort the news that reaches the public,” FLIP states in its year-end assessment.

Beyond the stigmatization of media and journalists, disinformation has also contributed to a flood of fake news that undermines democratic processes. This is evident in electoral cycles where digital platforms are used to spread unfounded claims of fraud.

Finally, FLIP reports the illegal surveillance of journalists' communications in several countries.

El Salvador stands out as one of the most alarming cases, where at least 30 journalists confirmed that their devices had been hacked using the invasive Pegasus spyware.

“The use of invasive technologies to violate journalists’ privacy, access their private communications, and retrieve information from their personal and work devices puts their sources at risk, threatens investigative journalism as a check on power, and places journalists in a vulnerable position where they can become victims of further abuses,” FLIP warns.

It is unsurprising that in countries where systematic hostility toward independent voices prevails, journalists face relentless harassment—not only from public officials and anonymous or fake accounts but also from radicalized citizens who see them as enemies.

FLIP also highlights that in these countries, including El Salvador, journalists face “trumped-up charges and trials without due process, often brought by judicial systems that serve as political extensions of the executive branch.”

According to FLIP, this grim outlook does not only harm journalists and media outlets—it threatens society as a whole.

“An attack on the press is an attack on democracy,” the organization states, calling on governments to take action to curb the “alarming” levels of violence against journalists.