Latin America & the Caribbean

Nicaragua

{This graph represents scores that have been modified by CIMA so that higher scores indicate a better media situation. It is intended to show trends over time; each index measures significantly different factors of press freedom. To see an explanation for how this graph was created, click here.}
 

Reporters Without Borders Description:

The second half of 2008 saw already serious tensions between the presidency and the owners of the private press deepen still further. The First lady, Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the action group Citizen Power Councils (CPC), stoked things up in the first place through a defamatory campaign against two journalists who originated from the Sandinista movement and were seen as critical. An abusive judicial process, since suspended, was opened at the request of the interior minister against Carlos Fernando Chamorro, leader of the Centre for Investigation and Communication (CINCO), and Sofia Montenegro, president of the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM). They were also targeted for personal attack, threats and intimidation from the highest level. A witch-hunt was also launched against non-governmental organisations and privately owned media who were accused of seeking “to destabilise the government” or of “working for the CIA”. This led journalist and editorialist Edgar Tijerino to announce he was giving up making the political comments which had enlivened sports programmes in Nicaragua for decades.

Read more on RSF’s site…

Three decades after a revolution swept the Sandinistas into power, the government of President Daniel Ortega still cast private media as enemies and moved forcefully to curtail their influence. Ortega—who led the 1979 uprising against the Somoza dictatorship and reclaimed the presidency in 2006 elections—employed a range of tactics to marginalize the press, including legal persecution, smear campaigns to discredit adversaries, and manipulation of state advertising to punish critical outlets.

Read more on CPJ’s site...

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