Ecuador / Americas

  
Relatives and friends hold pictures in Quito on April 1 of Ecuadoran photojournalist Paul Rivas, left, journalist Javier Ortega, center, and their driver Efrain Segarra, who were kidnapped near the Colombian border and later killed. (Reuters/Daniel Tapia)

Two journalists, driver killed after being kidnapped in northern Ecuador

New York, April 13, 2018 –The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the killing of three members of an Ecuadoran reporting team who were kidnapped on March 26 in northern Ecuador near the Colombian border and called for the perpetrators to face justice. President Lenín Moreno confirmed today that reporter Javier Ortega, photojournalist Paúl Rivas,…

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Police control traffic in a street in Ecuador's capital, Quito, in February 2017. Three members of a reporting team were abducted on March 26 while reporting in the country's northern Esmeraldas province. (Reuters/Mariana Bazo)

Two journalists, driver kidnapped in Ecuador near Colombia border

New York, March 27, 2018 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for the immediate release of three members of a reporting team from the daily El Comercio newspaper, who were kidnapped yesterday morning in northern Ecuador near the Colombian border.

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Ecuador pledges to reform repressive media law

Country needs free press for Moreno’s fight against corruption Quito, Ecuador, March 16, 2018 –The government of Ecuador pledged in a meeting Wednesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists to reform an oppressive communications law this year and to invite international experts to visit the country and analyze Ecuador’s compliance with international legal standards.

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Journalists and protesters hold placards outside an Istanbul court on October 31, 2017, calling for the release of jailed colleagues, including Turkish reporter Ahmet Şık. Turkey is the worst jailer of journalists in 2017. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression

For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers–Turkey, China, and Egypt–into improving the bleak climate for press freedom. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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A vendor waits for customers while selling newspapers on his motorcycle, one week after an earthquake in Pedernales, Ecuador. A local journalist says years of self-censorship among the press led to 'timid' early reports of the disaster. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)

Correa’s legacy leaves a long road to recovery for Ecuador’s journalists

Since taking office in May, Ecuadoran President Lenín Moreno has pledged to end a decade-long battle between the government and the media. But several reporters and editors with whom CPJ spoke said that the anti-press campaign carried out by Moreno’s predecessor, former President Rafael Correa, has caused lasting damage to journalism in Ecuador.

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Ecuadorian journalist Janet Hinostroza poses for a photo at the Teleamazonas television station in Quito, Ecuador on December 7, 2015. In 2013, CPJ honored Hinostroza with its International Press Freedom Award for her courageous investigative reporting in politics and corruption. (AP/Dolores Ochoa)

Ecuadoran TV journalist receives death threats

New York, October 18, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ecuadoran authorities to ensure the safety of television journalist Janet Hinostroza.

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Ecuadoran President Lenín Moreno, pictured in Quito in October. The president is urging journalists to embrace their watchdog function. (AFP/Rodrigo Buendia)

Ecuador’s Moreno opens new era in relations with media

Less than a month after taking office, Ecuadoran President Lenín Moreno engineered a ceasefire in the decade-long battle between the government and the nation’s independent news media by inviting a group of radio, TV, and newspaper editors to the Carondelet presidential palace in Quito.

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Disrupting the Debate

Governments use copyright laws and Twitter bots to curb criticism on social media By Alexandra Ellerbeck On July 10, 2016, Ecuadoran journalist Bernardo Abad tweeted that the former vice-president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, had not paid income taxes for the year before. A week later, Abad received a message from Twitter saying his account had…

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Ecuadoran regulators have fined seven news outlets for declining to republish allegations from an Argentine newspaper that defeated presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso, shown here in an April 3, 2017, press conference in Quito, evaded taxes. (AP/Delores Ochoa)

Ecuador fines seven news outlets for not reproducing Argentine newspaper story

Bogotá, Colombia, April 24, 2017–Ecuadoran authorities should immediately annul fines imposed on seven media outlets for declining to reproduce a story published in an Argentine newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Journalist facing charges in Ecuador files for asylum in Peru

New York, April 18, 2017–Ecuadoran journalist Fernando Villavicencio, director of the news website Focus Ecuador and a critic of outgoing President Rafael Correa, today filed a petition for political asylum in Lima, Peru. A statement from the regional press group Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) said the journalist, who fled to Lima after presidential elections…

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