Research Reports

12-30-2005

Local level journalism and Democracy indicators in Latin America

By Fernando J. Ruiz

SUMMARY

The worst areas to practice journalism in Latin America in the last semester

BLACK AREAS
RED AREAS
BROWN AREAS

Impunity retreats
Police and Journalism
Goverment advertising and "subtle censorship"
Words to be remembered
Neopopulism in the communication media

About the author:
Fernando Javier Ruiz
Fernando.Ruiz@fci.austral.edu.ar

Advisor to the Democratic Strengthening Area of the Centre for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL). Ph.D. in Public Communication from the University of Navarra Degree in Political Science from the Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA).
Professor at the Seminars on Journalism and Democracy and on History and Culture of Communications, at the Austral University School of Communications.

Author of the following books:

Otra grieta en la pared: Informe y testimonios de la nueva prensa cubana, 2003,(Another crack in the wall: Reports and testimonies of the new Cuban press) CADAL / Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Las palabras son acciones: historia política y profesional del diario La Opinión de Jacobo Timerman, (Words are action: Political & professional history of the La Opinión newspaper belonging to Jacobo Timerman ), 1971-77, Perfil Libros, Buenos Aires, 2001.
El señor de los mercados. Ambito Financiero, la City y el poder del periodismo económico,(The master of the markets: Ambito Financiero, the City & the power of the financial press), El Ateneo, Buenos Aires, 2005.

Executive Summary

The Cuban dictatorship continues to harass journalists: a female journalist was imprisoned.
Mexico and Colombia continue to be the two most dangerous countries for journalists.
The chronic instability in Haiti maintains insecurity at a high level.
In Brazil, death can occur at any moment in any State.
Venezuela can become a Black Area if the Government implements the press controls that have been decreed.
At the Inter American Press Association’s ( SIP) request, Mexican and Peruvian editors arrived at a historic agreement to fight impunity.
In most Latin American countries, the police force is one of the main sources of aggression to the free press.
Populism in the different countries has a similar communicational policy of not valuing the role of journalism.

Fernando J. Ruiz

Academic Advisor

Fernando J. Ruiz studied Political Science and earned a PhD in Communication. As a journalist and researcher he traveled and gave courses and conferences in almost all Latin American countries. He was a founding member and president of the Argentine Journalism Forum 2019-2021 and a jury member of the Colpin Award (Latin American Conference of Investigative Journalism). He was a consultant for Voces del Sur, the organization that brings together the region's main journalists' organizations. He is a full time professor and researcher at the School of Communication of Universidad Austral and a member of the National Academy of Journalism. He is the author of the following books: Las palabras son acciones. Historia política y profesional del diario La Opinión de Jacobo Timerman, 1971-1977 ("Words are Actions. Political and Professional History of the Newspaper La Opinión of Jacobo Timerman, 1971-1977") (Perfil, 2001); Otra grieta en la pared: informe y testimonios de la nueva prensa cubana ("Another crack in the Wall: Report and Testimonies of the New Cuban Press") (La Crujía, 2003); El señor de los mercados: historia de Ámbito Financiero, 1976-2001 ("The Lord of the Markets: A History of Ámbito Financiero, 1976-2001") (El Ateneo, 2005); Guerras mediáticas. Las grandes batallas periodísticas desde la Revolución de Mayo hasta la actualidad ("Media Wars. Great Journalistic Battles from the May Revolution to the Present Day") (Sudamericana, 2014); Cazadores de noticias. Doscientos años en la vida cotidiana de los periodistas ("News Hunters. Two Hundred Years in the Daily Life of Journalists") (Ariel, 2018); and Imágenes paganas: periodismo, democracia y pandemia en Argentina y América Latina ("Pagan Images: Journalism, Democracy and Pandemic in Argentina and Latin America") (Cadal/Adenauer, 2021).