Venezuela / Americas

  

How Venezuela’s government uses private internet providers to restrict access to the news

After seven years of painstakingly building up its audience, Crónica Uno, one of the only high-quality news websites that caters to poor and working-class Venezuelans, was recording up to 15,000 unique page views per day. But after private internet service providers (ISPs) teamed up with Venezuela’s authoritarian government in February to block Crónica Uno and…

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Proposed Venezuelan foreign funding law could have ‘huge impact’ on independent outlets

When Ewald Scharfenberg launched the investigative news website Armando.Info in 2014, about half of his start-up funds came from Venezuelan donors, subscribers, and advertisers, while overseas foundations provided the rest. But amid the worst economic crisis in Venezuela’s history, local income has disappeared, forcing Scharfenberg to rely almost entirely on international donations to keep Armando.Info…

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Election disinformation happens all over the world. These journalists are combating it.

With multiple federal investigations underway into the January 6 Capitol riot, concerns still abound about the spread of disinformation around the U.S. election. But the U.S. is not alone in confronting the phenomenon. Disinformation is happening all over the world – especially during high stakes events like national votes.    “It’s language agnostic, it’s region agnostic,…

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Mapping Venezuela’s shrinking radio landscape

Mapping Venezuela’s shrinking radio landscape Venezuelans navigate an information desert amid COVID-19, humanitarian & political crises By CPJ Central & South America staff and Coral Negrón, CPJ Patti Birch Fellow for Data Journalism As the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly around the world, few countries were already in such a state of humanitarian crisis as Venezuela….

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Members of the press and the Bolivarian National Guard, pictured outside the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas, on May 15, 2019. Local and international journalists say there are several challenges to covering the Venezuela crisis. (AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt)

Caracas full of uncertainty for journalists covering Venezuela crisis

A year after disputed national elections in Venezuela, and with access to information growing ever-scarcer, the country remains in a political and economic crisis. Conditions for the press have deteriorated further since January, when Juan Guaidó, the head of the opposition-led national assembly, declared himself interim president.

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Venezuelan security forces clash with supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaidó on the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge, on February 25. CPJ traveled to the Colombian border city of Cúcuta to meet with journalists covering the Venezuelan crisis. (AFP/Raul Arboleda)

Uncertainty and risk for journalists stranded at Venezuelan border

As Venezuela’s political crisis deepens, and the country closes its border with Colombia following violent clashes in late February, CPJ’s emergencies director, María Salazar Ferro traveled to the Colombian border city Cúcuta, with Luisa Isaza, head of protection for the Colombian press freedom group FLIP, and CPJ’s Andes correspondent, John Otis. There, they met with…

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Journalists cover the release of five colleagues briefly detained in Caracas in January. The number of arbitrary arrests of local and foreign journalists covering Venezuela's political and economic crisis is increasing. (AFP/Juan Barreto)

Venezuela’s intimidation tactics include arbitrary arrests, deportation

When Venezuelan military officials detained American freelancer Cody Weddle on March 11, the experience was both frightening and bizarre. Weddle said that agents put a hood over his head and pressed him to reveal sources he had never spoken with. They suggested the reporter was a member of the CIA and would be charged with…

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A photojournalist works in a Caracas hotel room during the third day of a massive power outage. Alongside power cuts, journalists must navigate internet blackouts imposed as Nicolás Maduro's government attempts to silence news of the opposition. (AFP/Juan Barreto)

Maduro’s internet blackout stifles news of Venezuela crisis

One of the world’s biggest news stories on March 4 was the daring return to Venezuela of opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó, who faced possible arrest by the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro. But most Venezuelans were unable to follow his homecoming.

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View of a computer screen showing the Twitter account of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas. A proposed law in Venezuela would expand the powers of the government to control and monitor internet use without institutional checks. (Juan Barreto/AFP)

CPJ joins letter expressing concern about proposed cyberspace law in Venezuela

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 30 regional and international rights organizations expressing concern about a proposed law in Venezuela that would expand the powers of the government to control and monitor internet use without institutional checks.

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The near deserted newsroom of Caracas daily El Nacional, pictured in October. Like many Venezuelan outlets, several of its journalists are in exile to escape legal action and the deepening economic crisis. (AFP/Federico Parra)

Lawsuits and economic crisis drive Venezuela’s journalists into exile

When Ewald Scharfenberg, the founding editor of the Venezuelan investigative news website Armando.Info, holds editorial meetings, he pulls out his mobile phone. That’s because most of his reporters are in Venezuela while Scharfenberg lives and works in neighboring Colombia.

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