Deteriorating Media Freedom in Nicaragua
By: Mieke Löhrer
May 03, 2024
May 3 marks the World Press Freedom day. This week’s graph shows how attacks on press freedom in Nicaragua have increased since Daniel Ortega’s return to power in 2007.
Media freedom is a fundamental right and an essential element of democracy, but independent journalism is increasingly threatened. The conditions for journalism are labelled as “bad” in seven out of ten countries worldwide, Nicaragua included.
Ortega’s government has closed the journalistic space over the years, passing laws that enable the criminalization of dissenting news, detaining and intimidating journalists, and revoking licenses of independent media outlets. Anti-government protests in 2018 were met with violent repression, followed by even heavier attacks on the independent press.
Today, the remaining independent media stations avoid coverage of political news, resulting in almost complete self-censorship. With restrictions on paper and ink imports, the government has quite literally taken the pen and paper from critical journalists.
