Al Jazeera reports on freedom of speech issues in Ecuador. A discussion of this and other videos are available on Al Jazeera’s website at the link below:
Before Correa came to power, the state controlled only one radio station. However, in 2008 a number of media outlets were seized, including two television stations. According to Fundamedios, an Ecuadorian free media advocacy group, the government uses these stations as “tools for political communication” although they are officially considered private media.
A number of the state’s critics have been taken to court, charged with criminal and civil defamation by the president and his allies. Correa insists he is battling a small group of irresponsible journalists bent on taking down his “revolutionary government” while critics say court cases are generating a culture of self-censorship. According to Fundamedios, there have been close to 400 violations of the media’s freedom of expression since January 2008.
