Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009americas: hondurasto restrict news coverage immediately after the coup, the de facto governmentcreated an information vacuum that kept many Hondurans unaware of what washappening in their own country.Press freedom conditions suffered further blows as supporters of both sideslaunched attacks on the press. The interim government took aim at pro-Zelayaoutlets: Privately owned Radio Globo and television station Canal 36, both ofwhich were critical of the interim government, were forced off the air severaltimes. The longest interruption began September 28, when security forces raidedtheir offices and confiscated equipment. The two outlets were taken off the airunder the provisions of a government decree announced that same day. The decree,which suspended constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, appeared to beaimed at suppressing turnout for a Zelaya rally planned that day in Tegucigalpa,but it was also used to justify media raids. Article 4 of the decree authorized theNational Telecommunications Commission to suspend broadcasters for “statementsthat attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignityof public officials, or attack the law.” Both news outlets were allowed to return tothe air on October 20.Reporters working for the mainstream press, most of which were alignedwith the caretaker administration, also reported harassment and attacks. In August,unidentified assailants hurled at least three homemade explosive devices atthe offices of El Heraldo, the Tegucigalpa-based national daily viewed as supportiveof Micheletti, according to press reports. The bombs exploded near the paper’smain entrances but caused no injuries and only minor damage. Rosángela Soto,a reporter and TV host with the pro-coup media group Televicentro, told CPJthat her colleagues had been beaten and threatened by Zelaya militants, deterringthem from covering demonstrations supporting the ousted president. OnNovember 4, assailants hurled an explosive device at the Tegucigalpa offices ofRadio HRN, a station seen as supportive of the caretaker administration. TwoHRN employees were injured.Honduran reporters and advocates said that during the tense politicalstandoff most TV stations covered protests favoring Micheletti, while ignoringthose supporting Zelaya. Reports from radio outlets, except a few pro-Zelaya stations, were more balanced but still delivered more information onthe interim government.Arturo Wallace Salinas, who covers Central America for the BBC, toldCPJ that the Honduran media’s performance “resembled what happenedin Venezuela [in 2002], ignoring facts or only broadcasting the views of thenew officials.” When Venezuela’s Chávez was briefly ousted in 2002, prominentbroadcasters were widely accused of slanting coverage in favor of thecoup leaders. (Chávez also accused them of plotting the coup, an assertionthey denied.)Alexis Quiroz, executive director of the Committee for Freedom of Expression(C-Libre), a Honduran press freedom group, said slanted coverage could beseen in Zelaya’s first, unsuccessful attempt to return to Honduras. After the Honduranmilitary blocked the airport’s runway to prevent Zelaya’s flight from landing,soldiers opened fire on his supporters, leaving at least two dead and dozensinjured. Most TV stations, Quiroz said, ignored the news and aired an official,interim government event instead.In August, Zelaya accused several media owners of planning the coup. Henamed two former presidents—Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé, owner of thedaily La Tribuna, and Ricardo Maduro, a principal in Radio Cadena Voces—along with José Rafael Ferrari, owner of the Televicentro and Emisoras Unidasgroups, and Jorge Canahuati Llarach, a principal in the dailies El Heraldoand La Prensa. But Zelaya provided no evidence of any direct involvement inthe takeover.Tensions further escalated after Zelaya secretly returned from exile on September21 and sought refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. Zelaya’s return created anervous standoff as he demanded to retake the presidency and Micheletti threatenedhim with arrest if he set foot outside the embassy. After intensive internationalnegotiations, the interim government agreed to allow Zelaya to returnto office after the November election so he could serve out the remaining twomonths of his term. Under the deal, the presidential vote would be recognized byboth sides, and neither Zelaya nor Micheletti would be candidates. But the agreementsoon fell apart: Zelaya urged his supporters to boycott the election, and helater alleged fraud in the balloting. Congress, in turn, voted in December to blockZelaya’s reinstatement.Throughout, the political dispute was echoed in media advertising. As partof a campaign intended to damage Zelaya’s reputation, the interim governmentproduced a number of television ads alleging that the ousted presidenthad stolen millions from the Central Bank. On the other side, analysts noted,Zelaya persuaded media allies such as Radio Globo and Canal 36 to air hisunusual, unsubstantiated allegations that Israeli commandos had been hiredto murder him.Two reporters were killed in unclear circumstances. Rafael Munguía Ortiz,a correspondent for Radio Cadena Voces, was killed in a drive-by shooting inthe northwestern town of San Pedro Sula in March, according to news reports.In July, an unidentified assailant shot broadcast and newspaper reporter GabrielFino Noriega as he was leaving radio station Estelar in the northern town of SanJuan Pueblo, police told CPJ. No arrests were reported in either case. CPJ wasinvestigating the deaths to determine whether they were work-related.8 68 7