(IPYS/IFEX) – The following is an excerpt of IPYS’s 2004 press freedom report: PERU: PRESS FREEDOM REPORT 2004 NUMBER OF ALERTS DOUBLED IN 2004 The state of press freedom in Peru in the last 12 months is cause for concern. In spite of having a democratically elected government, an access to information law and an […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – The following is an excerpt of IPYS’s 2004 press freedom report:
PERU: PRESS FREEDOM REPORT 2004
NUMBER OF ALERTS DOUBLED IN 2004
The state of press freedom in Peru in the last 12 months is cause for concern. In spite of having a democratically elected government, an access to information law and an ongoing decentralisation process, the numbers show that IPYS issued 73 alerts in 2004, more than double the 30 issued in 2003.
This translates to an average of a little more than 6 cases reported monthly, compared to 2.5 in 2003. Furthermore, unlike in previous years, 2 journalists were killed in connection with their work in 2004: Antonio de la Torre Echeandía (Radio Órbita, Ancash) and Alberto Rivera Fernández (Radio Frecuencia Oriental, Ucayali).
Lima featured in the highest percentage of cases, at 28% of the total (19 alerts), followed by Ancash region (8 alerts), Loreto (5), Cusco (4), and San Martin (4). In 2003, more than 50 per cent of the alerts issued by IPYS reported on attacks on journalists in the provinces; only 13 attacks occurred in the capital.
The number of assaults against journalists does not necessarily match the number of alerts because an alert often covers more than one journalist’s case. In 2004, at least 89 journalists were victims of different types of attacks (in some cases it was hard to determine the exact number of reporters involved in an incident as the threats or attacks were directed at groups of reporters or a media outlet’s entire staff. Again Lima is at the top of this list, with 20 journalists assaulted in the city, followed by Ancash with 10, and Ayacucho and Puno with 8.
Radio stations and radio journalists have been the target in the largest percentage of attacks, especially outside Lima. 29 alerts report on cases involving radio stations or journalists, while only 18 refer to television and 17 to print media.
IPYS’s annual report has classified attacks on freedom of expression into categories: physical assaults are the most common (22), followed by death threats (11), which are usually made through phone calls or text messages sent to journalists’ mobile phones. In addition, 11 alerts were issued on legal actions against journalists and 2 on legal actions against media outlets.
The Aggressors
IPYS has established that local government officials are behind the greatest number of attacks on freedom of expression in those cases where the attacker is “identifiable”. 15 alerts reported on officials physically or verbally attacking journalists, as well as initiating legal action against journalists or media outlets. This number does not take into account the 16 cases, mostly involving death threats, in which the attackers were not identified.
These are followed by the number of cases involving the judiciary (6 alerts); assaults committed by crowds of people (8); and cases linked to the police (3 attacks); members of Congress (3); Congress as a whole (3); and finally, peasant communities (5).
For the complete report, see: http://www.ipys.org/info_peru.shtml
