Status: Partly Free
Legal Environment: 17 (of 30)
Political Environment: 25 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 16 (of 30)
Total Score: 58 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)
Guatemalan journalists work under difficult conditions, threatened by rising violence from basic and organized crime as well as premeditated attacks on human rights workers and other critical voices, including independent journalists. In 2006, the government decriminalized press offenses, while the Constitutional Court declared that Articles 411 and 412 of the press code were unconstitutional. However, reporters say that obtaining access to government information is difficult. Nine community radio stations that were closed in 2006 for reportedly having no licenses remained closed in 2007.
While the situation is far better than during the country's protracted civil war, several attacks on journalists in 2007 drew concern from international press advocates. Eleven incidents of intimidation of journalists in 2007 were reported by the Public Ministry in 2007, down from 67 events during 2006. This figure includes the murder of one journalist as well as several physical attacks and assassination attempts against others. In early February, unidentified assailants in Zacapa shot at the automobile of Nuestro Diario correspondent Wilder Jordan, reportedly in retaliation for his January 15 report alleging that a bus driver's apprentice was responsible for a public transportation accident. In addition, several journalists received anonymous threats for their coverage of the February 19 murder of three Salvadoran congressmen and their driver. In May, radio producer Mario Rolando López Sánchez was murdered outside his home in Guatemala City. López produced the often contentious political program "Casos y Cosas de la Vida Nacional" and a variety of socially-focused programs on Radio Sonora, a privately-held station with listeners nationwide. On September 4, an unidentified gunman fired at the offices of the Radio Nuevo Mundo in Guatemala City five days before the presidential elections. These attacks were allegedly in response to critical coverage of the government by Radio Nuevo Mundo throughout the presidential campaign.
Newspaper ownership is concentrated in the hands of business elites with centrist or conservative editorial stances, with one company – Prensa Libre – dominating the newspaper market, although facing two weaker national competitors. Electronic media ownership remained concentrated in the hands of Mexican Angel Gonzalez, a politically connected entrepreneur who favors conservative perspectives and holds a monopoly on national television. Only one cable newscast, with a professional (if somewhat cautious) staff, offers a contrasting viewpoint to this on-air news monopoly. In a nation where only 60 percent of the population can speak Spanish, the paucity of indigenous language programming is a severe constraint on freedom of expression and of the press. Indigenous languages are rarely heard in national media. The resolution of their legal status was part of the 1996 peace accords but has not been addressed. There are no reports of government limitations on internet usage, although the internet is accessed by only approximately 10 percent of the population.
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