PRESS UNDER BURDEN: FIVE THREATS TO COLOMBIAN JOURNALISM.

Abstract

In times of war or during non-democratic regimes the press situation tends to suffer dramatically. Freedom loses ground, censorship slowly –sometimes rapidly- sets in. In Colombia the situation is very special due to the characteristics of the war, the plurality of actors, the complexities of the media market, and the intricate influence of the State. Colombian Media deals with many tests. It is threatened by diverse sources of pressure. I identify those sources as: (I) the guerrillas; (II) the drug traffic; (III) the paramilitaries and the new criminal gangs, (IV) the market, and (V) the State. These pressures create an atmosphere where being journalist is a challenge, a risk, but also a risky thrill. The Colombian war is difficult to define, not just because of its length and different shifting grounds, but also because a) the multiple actors involved, b) the large complex geography and the singularities of each region; and c) the differences between urban and rural areas. This research is the result of an investigation about journalists’ work in Colombia, my aim is to understand how journalists perceive these different pressures. In doing so I will analyze the situation of Colombian journalists through the points mentioned above and during the recent Colombian history. The data was mainly collected during my field work trip done in Bogota during 2012. My theoretical framework stems from the tenets of media dependency theory and the all-important concept of “culture of violence.