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.
Venezuela’s biggest daily, El Nacional, latest casualty of newsprint restrictions
New York, December 17, 2018–Venezuela’s biggest independent daily, El Nacional, printed its last edition on December 14, its editor and owner Miguel Henrique Otero announced. In an interview published in the paper, Otero, who manages the paper from self-imposed exile in Madrid, said that El Nacional would be available online only because of restrictions that…
Venezuelan court fines news website $500,000 for ‘moral damage’ to politician
Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, 2017–A Venezuelan court’s ruling ordering a news website to pay the equivalent of nearly half a million U.S. dollars in damages for republishing an article about a politician threatens press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
More than 100 journalists face threats or injury covering Venezuela protests
More than 100 journalists and media workers have been threatened, harassed, detained, injured, or otherwise obstructed from doing their work in Venezuela since mass protests erupted against the government of President Nicolás Maduro there at the beginning of April 2017, according to media reports, the affected journalists, and Venezuelan press freedom groups.
Newspaper offices shot at and vandalized in Venezuela
New York, August 31, 2016–Authorities should investigate incidents of vandalism of Venezuelan newspaper offices and do everything in their power to ensure that journalists can work without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Last critic standing: How El Nacional defies challenges to keep publishing
Patricia Spadaro, news editor at the Caracas daily El Nacional, faces daunting challenges in putting out the newspaper. Her boss, El Nacional’s president and editor Miguel Henrique Otero, has been living in exile since May 2015 after a top government official accused him of defamation. Amid the country’s deep economic crisis, half of Spadaro’s reporters…
Venezuelan court bars media executives from leaving country
Bogotá, May 15, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by a Venezuelan judge that prohibits 22 news executives from three independent media outlets from leaving the country due to a defamation lawsuit filed by one of Venezuela’s most powerful politicians. According to news reports, the lawsuit and travel ban came after three outlets…
In Venezuela, Tal Cual under pressure but not defeated
Tal Cual, one of the few remaining Venezuelan newspapers critical of the government, is so shorthanded there’s often no receptionist on hand to let people in. Visitors must bang on the front door until someone in the newsroom notices. That can take a while because there are hardly any editors or journalists left.
Journalists under fire covering protests in Venezuela
New York, February 20, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the wave of violence against and harassment and detentions of journalists covering protests in Venezuela in recent days and calls on authorities to ensure the press can work safely. The violations come amid nationwide protests that have left at least six dead and hundreds injured.…