After years of autocratic and even dictatorial government, the countries of Latin American are becoming democracies. Politicians are learning to listen to the voice of the people. But as democracy progresses, the Latin American press is still caught in a network of laws. rules and traditions that limit its right to report, publish and broadcast freely. Assassinations, bombings, threats and intimidation are part of the fabric of journalism in much of the region, despite political reform.
In some countries, old ways are slowly dying, and being replaced by an increasingly aggressive press. But in others, reporters do their jobs only at the risk of their own live.s
To discuss the state of the press in Latin America today, the International media Studies Program of the BYU Communications Department brought together Karen DeYoung, Associate Editor of the Washington Post, and award winning reporter in Nicaragua and El Salvador during the revolutions there, Juan Vasquez, National and Foreign Editor of the Miami Herald, and former CBS News Correspondent in Latin America, and Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas and longtime reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor of Journal do Brasil. of Rio de Janeiro.
Their discussion was moderated by John Dancy, former NBC News correspondent, who is Director of International Media Studies and Visiting Professor of Communications at Brigham Young University.
