The Deterioration of Freedom of the Press in Ecuador

During the month of February 2012, Ecuador’s stance on freedom of expression and freedom of the press has catastrophically gone from bad to worse. The country’s president, Rafael Correa, has become journalists’ worst enemy and his actions against freedom of expression have provoked indignation across the globe.

On Feb. 4, 2012, Correa’s government passed a law prohibiting journalists from reporting on any activity regarding the upcoming elections. The law, which was introduced by Correa himself, states that the media should abstain from promoting positive or negative messages about candidates or political topics, directly or indirectly. “Media cannot be political actors," Correa said, according to BBC News. 

Just a few days later, two Ecuadorian journalists were ordered to pay $2 million for moral damages to the president, reported Reporters Without Borders. The journalists, Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, had written a book called “El Gran Hermano” (The Big Brother), about the supposed contracts that Fabricio Correa, brother to the president, had with the state, which the president knew about, according to the Associated Press. The journalists will also have to pay $100,000 for the president’s legal fees, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

Even more inconceivable is Correa’s latest victory in his path to the deterioration of freedom of expression in Ecuador. On Feb. 15, 2012, president Correa once again won a legal case against the newspaper El Universo for alleged libel, according to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Three newspaper owners and an ex-columnist were sentenced to three years in prison and a payment of $40 million for damages, according to Reuters.

These incidents have caused outrage at a global scale, especially among defenders of freedom of expression and of the press, such as newspapers and journalistic organizations. The Brazilian newspaper O Globo published an editorial called “Correa massacres freedom of expression;” the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo called Correa the “Attila of the press.” Reporters Without Borders said that the “El Gran Hermano” sentence was "politically arbitrary and inopportune." The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) called it "disproportionate" and a "hard blow to investigative reporting." And the list goes on.

Nevertheless, although Correa pardoned those involved in the El Universo case and the “El Gran Hermano” case on Feb. 27, as the New York Times reported, the Ecuadorian president continues to attack the press. On Feb. 29, Correa gave a speech during his visit to Peru calling all Latin Americans to “rebel against the abuse of the dictatorship” of the press, the news agency Efe reported. Correa's battle against the media does not seem to be coming to an end any time soon, which is unfortunately damaging Ecuadorians’ right to freedom of expression, and which deteriorates the level of democracy that exists in Ecuador.