What is happening in Nicaragua when it comes to press freedom? A CPJ report found that President Daniel Ortega is waging a war against the media. It consists of smear campaigns, legal and economic pressures, verbal and physical attacks, and a rigorous information embargo against the critical and independent media.
Minutes after I woke up to get ready for the presentation of a CPJ report on press freedom conditions in Nicaragua, I turned on the TV. Nicaragua was shaken by the sudden death of Managua’s mayor, Alexis Arguello, who was found at home with a gunshot wound to his chest. Arguello, who had won three…
In this video report, “Daniel Ortega’s Media War,” CPJ’s Carlos Lauría and Joel Simon examine the Nicaraguan government’s aggressive tactics toward independent media, including legal harassment and smear campaigns. (4:48) Read the special report, “Daniel Ortega’s Media War.”
Nicaragua’s press freedom conditions have seriously deteriorated in the last year, local journalists and free press advocates told Americas Senior Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría and me during a weeklong visit to Managua. We concluded our mission on Friday and will issue a report next month on the nation’s press conditions.
There are few street names and no addresses in Managua, a famously disorganized city whose downtown was destroyed in a 1972 earthquake and never rebuilt. To find a house, office, or government building you need directions which are only intelligible to locals. Here are couple of examples:
Canada | Chile | Dominican Republic | El Salvador | Haiti | Nicaragua | Panama | Peru CANADA • A Canadian court ordered news organizations not to report on the details of the bail hearings of 17 suspects accused of terrorism in March. The court acted under a provision in the Canadian Criminal Code that…
The Nicaraguan attorney general’s office has dropped a criminal investigation into a nonprofit journalism organization headed by the prominent editor Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios after finding no evidence of wrongdoing. A remarkable number of media groups and individuals, including CPJ, spoke out against the investigation as politically motivated.
Dear Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists believes the criminal investigation of prominent journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios is politically motivated and intended to restrict critical news coverage in Nicaragua. The case undermines your government’s oft-stated commitment to press freedom.