| 2009-02-09
Report on the state of the Freedom of Press in Colombia in 2008
The Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (FLIP) presents its annual report "The threat and the stigmatization: Invisible intimidations of the press" about the state of the freedom of press in Colombia in 2008. The FLIP launches the report today on Colombia's 'National Day of the Journalist'.
The report describes the landscape of the press in Colombia during 2008. In the past year there were 130 violations of press freedom.
This represents a decrease of approximately 20% compared to 2007, the year in which the FLIP recorded 162 violations.
In 2008 there were no job-related murders of journalists. This is a fact worth emphasizing in a country like Colombia, where more than 130 journalists have been killed in the past 30 years. Despite this positive result, judicial investigations of crimes committed in previous years have made very little progress.
Compared to the prior year, 2008 saw a 15% reduction in threats made against journalists. Despite this, threat remains the main method of intimidation utilized against journalists, and the most effective mechanism to curtail the spread of information and prevent certain issues from coming into the public light. Together with the absolute impunity in which judicial investigations of threats against journalists remain, threats have become the silent enemy of freedom of expression.
In the report, FLIP presents some figures about the functioning of the Interior Ministry's Protection of Journalists Program during 2008 and especially emphasizes a recent ruling of the Constitutional Court -- following the lawsuit of one of the beneficieries of the Program -- about the conditions with which the State should protect the journalist at risk. In short, the Court ruled that the protection of a journalist at risk can not affect his freedom of expression.
During 2008, there have also been some denouncements of journalists who consider themselves to be at risk because of remarks or statements made by public officials and individuals.
Aside the direct threats and other violations of press freedom, last year showed another, more indirect, form of censorship; the arbitrary distribution of state advertising to serve political objectives and exert financial pressure on journalists and media. The report provides an approach to the problem and some of the proposals that are being developed to deal with it.
Another factor that may lead to an indirect form of censorship is the restriction of access to public information. During 2008, FLIP announced certain actions aimed at promoting the right to petition. In one particular case, the Supreme Court of Justice referred to public information and information about military matters. In a ruling that was relevant for investigative journalism the high court ruled that when the Army refuses to give information on the grounds of maintaining national security, it should explain the way in which national security would be compromised by the answer.
Download: Abstract of the report (in english version)* or the complete report (only in spanish version).
* Translated by Colombia Reports. www.colombiareports.com.
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