FOTP 2013 Full Report

journalists. In July, photojournalist Luis Soto of El Periódico was hit in the head with a rockwhile covering a student protest in Guatemala City. In February, Víctor Espino, a radio andnewspaper reporter in the department of Jalapa, filed a complaint stating that he had beenthreatened by police while trying to cover a vehicle accident. In October, newspaper columnistCarolina Vásquez Araya received death threats after denouncing sexual abuse against girls on acotton plantation. In November, members of the Independent Media Center journalist networkwere threatened with lynching and maiming by employees of the mining company Exmingua.In a stride against impunity, in August a judge sentenced Juan Manuel Ralón, the vicepresident of the Safety Commission of Panajachel, to nearly four years in prison for threateningjournalist Lucía Escobar. In 2011, death threats had forced Escobar into hiding after she wroteabout the commission’s abuses of authority and extralegal activities.Newspaper ownership is in the hands of business elites who maintain centrist orconservative editorial stances. There are four major daily papers, all privately owned. Electronicmedia ownership is concentrated in the hands of Ángel González, a politically connectedMexican entrepreneur who favors conservative perspectives and controls Guatemala’s four mainprivate television stations. One state-owned radio station competes with numerous privatestations. Some media owners allege that the government allocates advertising unevenly in favorof supportive outlets. Bribery of journalists remains a concern. In August, newspaper reporterEnrique García accused congressman Estuardo Galdámez of trying to bribe him by “gifting” hima bag of cash. There were no reports of government restrictions on internet usage, and the webwas accessed by about 16 percent of the population in 2012.GuineaStatus: Not FreeLegal Environment: 18Political Environment: 27Economic Environment: 17Total Score: 62Survey Edition 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Total Score, Status 66,NF 66,NF 71,NF 59,PF 62,NFThroughout 2012, President Alpha Condé continued to oversee uneven progress on seriousgovernance and human rights issues. Constitutional and legislative reforms enacted in 2010 thatimproved the legal environment for press freedom remained unimplemented, and members of themedia continued to be subject to censorship, suspension, detention, threats, and assaults by thegovernment and security forces.The transitional government promulgated a new constitution by decree in March 2010that guarantees press freedom, and in June of that year it passed two new media laws that wereviewed as significant improvements by international press freedom groups. The first removedprison penalties for press offenses and narrowed the previously vague definition of defamation.The second called for the creation of a new media regulatory agency with 5 of the 11 membersselected by media organizations, as opposed to being appointed by the president, as in the past.However, libel against the head of state, slander, and false reporting remain offenses under the185