La Lucha Por Un Espacio: Guatemalan Journalists Fighting Against Censorship and Violence

Abstract

Hundreds of journalists took to the streets in different parts of Guatemala to protest attacks against their colleagues and infringements on their freedom of expression in the country, during the second week of March in 2015. The larger protests were held in Guatemala City and in Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez, where earlier that week at slightly past noon three reporters were gunned down at a park in front of a municipality building; one survived the attack. Three days later a cameraman was shot dead by men on motorcycles, in front of the television station he worked for in Chicacao, Suchitepéquez. This is the perpetual cycle of violence that has been inculcated into the daily lives of the people in the country- it’s a cultural construct that’s oozed into the depths of society and sadly into the profession of journalism. This thesis is a study that investigates how Guatemalan journalists live and work in the country under a constant threat of violence, fighting for their space as a respected profession in a society that could benefit from a functioning media system. The in-depth interviews with reporters in the country will allow for a first-hand interpretation to support the research already conducted in the literature review. The study is a furthered analysis of literature and interviews to better understand why the state of journalism in Guatemala is complex, and why it is imperative for journalists to continue fighting for their space.