Attacks on the Press 2009: Ecuador
Top Developments • Correa assails news media, and regulators target critical outlets. • Media legislation could restrict freedom of expression. Key Statistic 3: Days that regulators ordered Teleamazonas off the air. Re-elected by a landslide in April, President Rafael Correa intensified his attacks on critical news media, calling them ignorant and deceitful. As Correa used…
Ecuadoran president threatens action against critical media
New York, June 4, 2009–The opening of two government investigations into private television network Teleamazonas and threats of legal action by Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa against critical media outlets are an attempt by the government to stifle dissent, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Critical journalist shot to death in Guayaquil
New York, June 23, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ecuadorian authorities to investigate the death of Raúl Rodríguez Coronel, who was shot to death this morning in Guayaquil. CPJ is investigating all possible links between Rodríguez’s work as a journalist and his death. Rodríguez, news vice president and host of the daily news…
Attacks on the Press 2007: Ecuador
ECUADOR President Rafael Correa regularly bashed the news media after taking office in January, reflecting increasing tensions between his young socialist government and the powerful business groups that control the country’s media. Correa immediately called for a new constitution that would expand the power of the executive branch, loosen term limits, and allow for greater…
Two journalists killed
New York, February 17, 2006— The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for investigations into two incidents in which journalists have been shot dead in Ecuador this week. In both cases it is unclear whether the journalists were killed for their work. On Monday, radio reporter José Luis Léon Desiderio was killed in the coastal…
Photographer dies while covering protests
New York, April 21, 2005 Photographer Julio Augusto García Romero died Tuesday evening, after inhaling tear gas while covering a demonstration in downtown Quito, Ecuador’s capital. The demonstration, organized to protest the now-ousted President Lucio Gutiérrez, was moving toward the Palacio de Carondelet, the seat of the executive branch, when police fired water cannons…
Crackdown on the Independent Press in Cuba
El escritor y poeta Manuel Vázquez Portal es uno de los 29 periodistas independientes que fueron detenidos, procesados y sentenciados a penas de prisión de entre 14 y 27 años. En las filas de la prensa independiente desde 1995, en enero de 1999 Vázquez Portal, junto a otros periodistas, fundó la agencia noticiosa independiente Grupo…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Ecuador
In general, press freedom is respected in Ecuador, but journalists complained that government officials continue to blame the media for the country’s problems, including rampant corruption. Throughout much of the year, President Gustavo Noboa sparred with the press over its critical coverage of his administration’s failure to handle a rash of failing private banks–a crisis…