Guatemala

Special Reports

  

Trust deficit: About This Report

With a new president in office, Guatemala has the opportunity to reverse years of declining press freedom after the country’s journalists endured obstruction, legal harassment, orchestrated online attacks, and threats of violence. To win back trust, the administration will need to make a strong commitment to transparency and provide enough resources to combat impunity in…

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Trust deficit: Guatemala’s new president must overcome skepticism to improve press freedom

With a new president in office, Guatemala has the opportunity to reverse years of declining press freedom after the country’s journalists endured obstruction, legal harassment, orchestrated online attacks, and threats of violence. To win back trust, the administration will need to make a strong commitment to transparency and provide enough resources to combat impunity in…

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Trust deficit: ‘The goal was to silence me’

Prensa Comunitaria knows first-hand the risks of covering environmental issues and powerful economic interests. In August 2017, authorities in the eastern Izabal department issued arrest warrants for seven individuals, including two of the news website’s indigenous journalists: Carlos Choc and Jerson Xitumul Morales.

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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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Who is killing Central America’s journalists?

Widespread violence and impunity leave murders unsolved Amid the violence and instability caused by organized crime and corruption in Central America, Honduras and Guatemala have experienced an alarming rise in the number of murders of, and attacks against, journalists. Near complete impunity for these crimes means the cases go mostly unsolved and the motives unexplained.…

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On Assignment: Covering Conflicts Safely

Guide for reporting in hazardous situations.

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Speaking Out: Postwar Journalism in Guatemala and El Salvador

Guatemala and El Salvador have both emerged from bloody civil wars fought between conservative central governments and leftist insurgents. And in both countries, the press is beginning to show signs of independence.

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Alzando la Voz El Periodismo en la Etapa Posguerra en Guatemala y El Salvador

Guatemala y El Salvador vienen levantando cabeza de sendas guerras sangrientas libradas entre gobiernos conservadores de persuasión centralista e insurgentes izquierdistas. Y en ambos países, la prensa comienza a dar señales de independencia.

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Guatemala’s President Is No Friend of the Press

“During the long period of armed confrontation, even thinking critically was a dangerous act in Guatemala, and to write about political and social realities, events or ideas meant running the risk of threats, torture, disappearance and death,” writes the Commission for Historical Clarification in its report on Guatemala’s civil war, which was released on February…

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Around the world: A regional look at the state of press freedom in 1995

Africa For the third consecutive year, Ethiopia held more journalists in jail–31 at year’s end–than any other country in Africa. Most were detained without charges.

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