P
ress report
Zamora:
多Victim or victimizer?
Foto: http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20130720/hitech/231370/
English version February, 2014
February, 2014
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In Search of a Better Guatemala The Reason behind this Publication By The Reflection Group of San Rafael
Guatemala is a country that has long
suffered due to an elevated level of ignorance as a product of a long list of social deficiencies that have immobilized it for many years. Today, at a time that the country is facing a new set of complicated challenges that threaten it, such as drug trafficking and generalized corruption, we want to reflect on how to point out those individuals who truly prevent the country from achieving real change and we believe that through this publication we can bring them to light, providing a real contribution to Guatemala. It is necessary to discuss the role of the media as an upholder of freedom of expression, as vital entities to the construction and improvement of modern societies and as one of those essential starting points that can facilitate the change desired by all Guatemalans. Today we wish to reflect on associating the lucrative nature of the owners of several media outlets with the right to lie, misinform and publish libel with impunity under the umbrella of the right to free speech. If anything has gone backwards in recent years, it is in the irresponsibility we see in the journalistic practice of resorting to anonymity to publish falsehoods and attack public or private persons relentlessly, hiding behind the right to inform without limitation. Today in Guatemala there is a clear example of this bad practice in a media outlet that draws curiosity with falsehoods fed to stay in the market of information. Its owner, José Rubén Zamora Marroquín uses systematic lying as a weapon to gain notoriety or coerce through intimidation
that he receive advertising. He seeks to do business with powerful sectors through back channels, but when things do not go according to plan, he resorts to the most infamous and immoral attack imaginable. It is clear that unrestricted freedom requires a very high level of accountability, without this one condition we fall into a field of debauchery in which the press becomes a dangerously demented entity, blackmailer and executioner that conveniently destroys without the obligation to account for their actions. We hope that this document lays the ground for an an academic and social debate on the role of media, so law schools, political science, Humanities and Communication schools of different universities can adopt and deepen what is being presented hereby. Mr. José Rubén Zamora, the newspaper El Periódico is responsible for a practice that carries over more than twenty years and consists of a series of attacks on institutions, public officials and businessmen, many of these attacks, as has been established through time, were totally unfounded and malicious. Zamora Marroquín hides in anonymity to defame and uses nicknames as a legal skill that prevents the attacked party from proving they were attacked and injured and prevents them from proceeding with placing charges against this violator of the sacred principle of Of course, we who write this recognize that in the current government, as in all previous governments, there are immoderations that must be known and reported by the public and the media, all in
search of the perfectibility and functionality of our democracy and our society. What is not fair or ok, is to do this anonymously, what is not fair or ok is to mix half truths with falsehoods to damage everyone with what is not congenial. And this is precisely what Mr. Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín practices on a day to day basis in Until recently none of the media or analysts, had taken a stand against the violation of the moral and ethical codes of freedom of expression that José Rubén Zamora Marroquín practices methodically, all knowing that he has been breaking the law and violating journalistic ethics. For too long they had decided to look the other way and become accomplices, until today the most serious and independent Guatemalan journalists have decided to break the silence and report the abuser, fortunately for Guatemala, marking the beginning of the end of this boorish method far from true José Rubén Zamora Marroquín has been exposed and lost, in front of Guatemala and the world, the most precious element that every dignified journalist should protect: His Credibility. Starting with a clear message from Pope Francis and so Guatemala never forgets, we provide the actual writings of analysts, journalists and media who dared to condemn José Rubén Zamora Marroquín actions and speak up against him. There is no longer a need for trials, court procedures, nor freedom of speech legislation. The abuser and violator has been convicted by their own guild.n
February, 2014
Pope calls avoid misinformation, libel and slander in the media (ACI/EWTN Noticias).-
Today, in the Paul VI classroom, upon receiving in audience officers and
employees of the Italian Radio Television (IRT), which turns 90 since it’s first radio broadcasts, and 60 since it’s first television broadcast, Pope Francis urged to avoid misinformation, libel and slander in the media. The Holy Father stressed the importance of “maintaining ethical standards” in the media, stating that “the ethical quality of communication is the result, or q last analysis, of attentive consciousness, not superficial, always respectful of people, whether they are the subject of information, both recipients of the message. “ Everyone, in their own role and personal responsibility, is called to monitor ethical to high level of communication, and avoid things that cause harm, such as: disinformation, defamation and slander. “ Pope Francis also reflected on “the relationship has existed over the decades amongst the RAI and the Holy See, as well as the value and demands of public service.” “The key word that I would like to immediately evidence is collaboration. Through the public service of RAI, the Italian people have always had access to images of the pope and the event of the church in Italy. This collaboration is done with two Vatican authorities: the Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Center. “ The Pope stated “we thank the Lord for all this and from now on we carry the model of collaboration. But to recall a past rich in achievements calls for a renewed sense of responsibility for today and for tomorrow. The past is the root, history becomes the root of new impulses, present and future challenges: a root to move forward!” The Pope recalled that the profession of the press “in addition to informative, is formative, it is a public service, a service to the common good.” “A service of truth, service to goodness, and a service to beauty,” he said. After offering his best wishes to those attending the meeting, the Holy Father asked that “know how to always serve human, cultural and civil society growth.”n The Vatican, 18 Jan. 14
Author Details: ACI is the current name for what was originally founded as the Agency of Catolic Information (ACI) on Latin America, headquartered in Lima, Peru, where it is legally recognized as an educational notfor-profit linked to the Catholic Church. On March 13, 1980 German-Colombian
missionary Adalberto Maria Mohn founded ACI and established a board composed of lay Catholics. In 1987 Mr Alejandro Bermudez Rosell was appointed as its director. Mr. Bermudez has a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Lima (Peru). -Wikipedia-
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February, 2014
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Editorial Prensa Libre Ethics, Law, and free criticism of the press Today we wish to refer to the freedom
of the press, its possible excesses and ethical aspects of this passionate subject, complicated yet simple to understand at its most basic elements. Also, how people rate this political and social progress, whose present enjoyment was achieved after many journalists, commentators and ordinary citizens were left dead on the side of the road in order to end dictatorships. The law places no limits on the criticism of public officials, but it does point out how to act when someone goes outside of the law as well as suggested ethical corrections. Because of that, discussions should be done anonymously, within the field of abstraction and theoretical concepts, implementation and consequences. The first issue relates to where the public official ends and where the person begins. If a mayor - for example - is playing on the floor with his young grandchildren, his function is to serve as the grandfather, not as mayor. It is his private life. But things change when illegal actions are committed in that private setting with the aggravation of being related to other government officials or using public resources. The same can be said of a journalist who holds the same familial role, with the difference that, not holding public office puts them in a different legal context. The main issue concerns how this freedom is practiced. One thing is that anything can be said about someone but what that person does is completely
different. Jokes and nicknames are insults, an accusation may constitute slander, and both are crimes punishable under the law of Freedom of Speech. The constant repetition of offensive comments in the case of public officials can be validly described as an abuse by the persons referred to or for the rest of the population. The danger of such use of derogatory language against public officials is that the population may qualify it as proof that the press can say anything about anyone, which is not the case. So the decision to use or have sections with information not always verified enters the ethical field – in other words, what is right and what is not – within in the media and with journalists. In ethics, voluntarily, breaking away from one’s values cannot be punished because if it were to be punished it would become law and therefore binding. In this case, from a perspective that not everyone agrees with, both sides were wrong. The official that went to an incompetent court failed in her mission against her critics and became exposed. The commentator for the use of unnecessary nicknames and derisive expressions. The best thing to do if both had the will, is to withdraw the complaint and exercise their freedom of speech with restraint in order to avoid being charged with harassment.
Officials and critics should understand the importance of the spirit of the law, its stringent application is fundamentalism, and as such, is unhealthy. n Guatemala, January 8, 2014.
http://www.prensalibre.com/opinion/Etica-ley-libre-critica-prensa_0_1062493767.html
Author Details: Prensa Libre is the first morning newspaper published in Guatemala. Of conservative tendencies, was founded on August 20, 1951 and has been the leader in terms of market influence for
media in every social class. Its average circulation is 130,000 copies and is considered to be the great measured of national public opinion. It is a newspaper independent from the government
thanks to the number of advertisers who have and allow it to operate successfully as a journalistic enterprise. Its content is respected and attended by decision makers in the country.
February, 2014
Political Bullying/Journalistic Bullying After the senseless lawsuits of President
Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti against Jose Ruben Zamora, president of elPeriódico, there are several clear points and many more not clear and still under discussion. The first obvious fact is that the public rejects a government that seeks to silence, thanks to friendly judges, one of its critics. But this is only one stage of the political harassment or bullying that journalists have undergone. There was also withdrawal of public funds intended for government advertising as a way to punish the newspaper. Even viler has been the pressure on private sector companies urging them to withdraw their ads from the newspaper in question. Many companies, banks and telephone depend on favors from the government to do business. None of this has yet come to the table for discussion in our fragile democracy. However, the professional press in the country would be very wrong to ignore the other part of the discussion that concerns us. I am critical of the way Jose Ruben Zamora manages the “elPeladero” section and question his decision not to adhere to the journalistic method. Having been director for 16 years elPeriódico and despite having expressed my criticisms from within the newspaper, without a doubt I am considered accountable for such practices and I assume accountability. At this point I find it essential to question whether we should admit that a special charter should guarantee immunity to whoever seeks to vituperate common people or politicians through harassment and without documentation or even a comparison to their
statements. This is nothing more than journalistic bullying for which the harassed find no legal or effective way to defend themselves in the framework of the current Law of Freedom of Speech. There are several ways to practice journalism. There is a professional manner and a manner in which rumor is favored before substantiation. No one can force those of us who exercise journalism to use the journalistic method. This is what leads us to verify, confirm and contrast the information obtained. It moves us to put into context and provide data as widely as possible without providing space to adverse versions. It makes us establish and convey to the audience what facts are verifiable and which are still in doubt. That is the aspiration in professional journalism and if audiences were more educated, less emotional and self-satisfied (satisfied both with the circus and the disentitlement), they would demand for the media to adhere to those standards. A realistic review of this aspiration underlines that in a country with barely any real institutionalism, and where hiding businesses and patrimony is a favored legal practice, complying with the method of challenging research and findings and the methods of investigative journalism to uncover corruption and abuses by officials requires that journalists not only investment time, but of resources and capabilities. But media and journalists around the world, including many Central Americans, overcome these challenges every year with expertise and proficiency, and with the diligence of its penal institutions, they have even put
Author Details: Juan Luis Font, a lawyer and a journalist, began his career as a journalist in 1989, in the early days of the magazine Crónica. Created the Siglo XXI’s Magazine 21 and
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Juan Luis Font
presidents behind bars; an example of that is Costa Rica. A communicator that is content with sugar plays a better role as political opposition than as a journalist. Professional journalists -the entire countryneed an agile and practical legal framework that allows resolving conflicts about freedom of speech, without the consequences involving prison sentences for those who commit excesses or economic suffocation of the medium. What is sought is a rectification, when appropriate, for he who’s honor has been damaged. But what exists today is a perverted process that is complicated at will, to prevent justice; to ensure impunity. It is true, this has favored freedom of speech as well as dozens of brave and sensible people, but it has also allowed others to take advantage of this and engage in several methods of harassment and accost political enemies.n Guatemala, January 17, 2014.
http://www.contrapoder.com.gt/es/edicion37/opinion/995/Bullyingpol%25C3%25ADtico-Bullying-period%25C3%25ADstico.htm
participated in the foundation, and directed for 16 years, elPeriódico of Guatemala. He was a correspondent for the magazine Proceso. He has been a radio personality for
Emisoras Unidas Radio stations since 2010 and leads a the team for “A las 8:45” of Canal Antigua. He is the founder and director of the magazine ContraPoder.
February, 2014
Our Journalism One
of the most representative phenomena of the current condition of the Guatemalan journalism is gossip as an independent genre. It is a genre in itself; it cannot be categorized among news genres, because the events and data consigned have no source and have not been attested by who is stating them. No evidence to prove it or adjust it, as in the case of a story. Nor can it be categorized within genres of opinion, as the editorial or opinion column, since it does not use a discursive sequence in which arguments to persuade the accuracy, timeliness or suitability of what the writer says. Gossip has never been absent from the media, although it began to take a leading role in recent times, when Prensa Libre published in its Sunday supplement the adventures of an imaginary character named Doña Maty, in the years preceding the constitutional restoration. In these chronicles, with a slightly erotic tone, Doña Maty besides upping the narrator’s testosterone, named Petronio Lis, gave him bits of political information that he shared with his readers. Probably the genre as we know it these days, what set stylistic and ethically by columns of Güicho Cantoral, published by Siglo 21 in the late 1980s and early 90s. If Petronio Lis, with a modernist prose of the early twentieth, was convoluted and somewhat pretentious, Güicho Cantoral appropriated the everyday language of markets and buses. The mixture of plain language and lower strata of political disloyalty attacks had great success.
The Chronicle of those years also had
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Gustavo Berganza
a weekly section called Plaza Mayor, where a more elitist language and carefully slid information not given for a long subject, but could be interesting. The idea was to make accessible what was disclosed only in political cliques who had access to a limited number of initiates. That is to say that, like Güicho Cantoral’s gossip, this was a highly anticipated section. With the emergence of elPeriódico, the experience of the first Crónica and the first Siglo 21 migrated there in thematic terms and, to some extent, stylistically as well. It did not take long for a hybrid of Plaza Mayor and Güicho Cantoral, in the form of brief notes. He named it El Peladero recalling the years when the old bougainvillea gazebos capped leafy Centennial Park, served as a place of exchange of gossip and rumors. I have been told that for many years, as with the research module, the Peladero was a battleground between those who wanted to publish verified information reasonably and decently written and those who fought to include not always truthful tip-offs, with wording which omitted things as vital as the full names of the actors mentioned, to name only their nicknames. These days, the Peladero shows clear disregard for checking the accuracy of the information and great carelessness with how it is written. The notes released have lost that irony it once had in order to assume an angry, more aggressive style, bordering on insult. It seems that the important thing now is not to communicate but to hit, injure, discredit.
But the most unfortunate thing about this is that many people like and take it as a reference of what is supposed to be done in journalism. But elPeladero has no monopoly over the loss of technical and ethical accuracy; much of the same in radio and, to some extent, on television. In these, the unfounded accusation, without evidence pointing, verbal aggression, replaces journalism that narrates, explains, analyzes, discusses and reports. And elsewhere, what ought to be information is being replaced with journalism that spins opinion after opinion after opinion... In short, in an area where the journalism that has more demand and credibility is wrathful, venomous, argumentative, scurrilous and vulgar with a miserable style syntax. It’s of no surprise that the media is in the situation in which it currently finds itself. n Guatemala, August 16, 2013.
Author Details: Sociologist and journalist Gustavo Berganza is cofounder of DOSES Association, dedicated to conducting research, training and advocacy organization in the field of media. He has published studies Media
and Guatemalan society through it’s speeches (Guatemala: Doses, 2002) and Truly Influential: The effects of the media in the 2003 presidential elections (Guatemala: Doses, 2004). He was a journalist
in El Gráfico, Prensa Libre and the Seminario Cronica a weekly newspaper of which he was its director. He currently writes a weekly column in the magazine Contrapoder.
February, 2014
This note had been censured by “El Periodico”
The Interference of Baldizón Baldizó Obligates Me to Close a Lifecyle
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Sylvia Gereda Valenzuela
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5 years ago we started a project with four friends who had the dream of building a Guatemala on the basis of the rule of law and honesty. ..Today, however, I feel the urgent need to close this chapter of my life and leave elPeriodico by my own will, based on the principles and values that have guided my life. In this election campaign, I have reported facing abuse of power by the candidates and have also discovered a dark side of Manuel Baldizon, party candidate of LEADER where several individuals of his staff as well his deputy Luis Enrique Mendoza Rodríguez were intercepted by a drug raid in Escuintla, where a plane loaded with cocaine and weapons was found. Because of this situation I chose to send him a letter to clarify if his threats were bordering on the limits of the animosity that a journalist can create or if it was indeed a death threat. Far from responding to my question, Baldizon sent me a letter in a mocking tone with overlapping threats where he sarcastically called me “Sylvita” and then leaves it captured in the same ink and paper that he respects. “In particular elPeriódico, because that is where you and our mutual friends, have allowed my family to participate and collaborate in our business ventures”; in the last line he wrote “A loving embrace, appreciation and special greetings to your beautiful family, remembering that only a united family can save Guatemala.”
On September 30 (2011), a day after I received the letter, the President of elPeriódico, José Rubén Zamora, confirmed in a press release that “in the case of Baldizón who bought his father’s shares, Salvador Baldizon,” which confirmed that it is true that the Presidential candidate and congressman has elPeriódico shareholding. Some of the advice from one of the founders of elPeriódico, Mario Fuentes Destarac on the moral and legal implications that a politician like Baldizón and his family can have on our journalistic principles has been a great light in making this decision, especially because I do not share the direction in which the newspaper I founded has taken. Therefore, I prefer to retire before polluting my soul.
Editor’s Note:
This article demonstrates that one of the opposition leaders during the current period of government not only has links to the newspaper but also owns the newspaper ElPeriodico, thus explaining the various fallacious and false attacks against many projects and public figures coming from that newspaper. For its extension, this article has been cut. n Guatemala, November 2nd, 2011.
For its extension, this article has been cut. The complete version is http://sylviagereda.com/?p=160
Author Details: Sylvia Gereda has a Doctorate (PhD) in Sociology and Political Science at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain. Was one of the founders of the newspaper El Periódico. In 1996 she constituted an investigative journalism team for the newspaper. She currently
heads the Special Report program broadcast by Canal Antigua. In 2006, she was appointed as regional vice president of the Freedom of Press Committee of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA). She has been a Director of the Latin American
Journalism Center (CELAP), based in Panama. She is also a representative of Reporters Without Borders which is an organization based in France that defends press freedom worldwide, she has served that post since 1996.
February, 2014
MIRADOR
Politics and Journalism It’s a must to listen to the great Paco Pérez
de Antón explain why journalism should not be called the fourth power rather be called the counterweight. When journalism is done from privileged platform, with special privileges and pretensions of pride, it is distanced from criticism, comment, analysis and even rationality, and becomes a vehicle to address other forms of power, usually the political. Professional ethics disappears and the important thing is the endgame, erroneously justifying the use of the medium. On the other hand, the politician can also see the journalist as a competing power and normally does not like the evidence that is presented on his work, ignoring opinions, comments or criticisms and trying to silence those who provide proof of their corruption, malpractices or of their inefficient administration. When power is the goal for both confrontation occurs and is artificially justified and in many ways conceals the heart of the problem: Machiavellianism blooms and it attempts to justify the means. Part of media rumors and lies are sharpened; insults and slander are promoted and are used anonymous and actions are magnified. Seldom evidence is given and the “credibility “ of enjoying the medium or the person - or corporatism is sufficient to generate a rumor that ends up being believed by many. Ethics and deontology are obviated and freedom of expression is put forward as proof of any atrocity.
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Pedro Trujillo
Politics is no stranger to this. It promotes standards (Argentina, Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela ...) limiting media o w n e r s h i p or censoring information. Closes TV and newspapers or persecutes journalists to impose exorbitant fines or strip them of their property or businesses. It also manipulates judges or prosecutors to pass ad hoc judgments under the guise of respect, intimacy or privacy, justifying legal atrocities that are unsustainable under the rule of law. In the background stands a philosophical branch wielded by both at once and forgotten at the same time: Ethics. Neither politician nor journalist practices it. It is unethical when he obeys certain personal interests or third party interests, or is carried away by his passion. It is not ethical either to try justifying actions based on outdated principles, inconsistent legal frameworks or pressure from another power. If both were ethical, accurate and tailored to noble principles, the discussion will focus on test, prove or disprove the alleged irregularities instead of trying to remove the messenger. There is still much ground to cover to understand that simple premise. The media should be the counterbalance
and present evidence with rationality, veracity and consistency the excesses of political power. The work, without pretending to be objective, must be professional, impartial, with deontological parameters set away from personal interests. This is not to bet on one or the other, but to practice values and find the necessary balance of interests for the benefit of all. Individual rights are not to be prioritized (a mistake often committed). Everyone has the same status and to talk about freedom of expression means to respect all other rights with the same force and energy. However and unfortunately, we are far from that point of balance and everyone shoots to the side that elevates their interests, their particular objectives or their conscious. Emotion is imposed on rationality and we end up not moving much or even in the right direction. n Prensa Libre, January 14, 2014.
http://miradorprensa.blogspot.com http://www.prensalibre.com.gt/opinion/Politica-periodismo_0_1066093397.html
Author Details: Pedro Trujillo (1957, Cordova, Spain) is a journalist and a PhD in international law and international relations. Has a degree in Military Sciences. Born in Spain, resides in Guatemala and teaches at the University
Francisco Marroquín on history and geopolitics of the twentieth century, as well as negotiation and conflict resolution. Has another Ph.D. in International Relations and International Law (Spain)
Other studies related to statistics, security and cryptography. Writes weekly in Prensa Libre and is part of the news analysis panel of Canal Antigua, which also has an interview show with various personalities of national life.