The Free Expression Civil Association demanded the cessation of attacks and persecution against communication professionals

The Civil Association Free Expression, Journalists for Peace and Democracy, recognized this June 27, National Journalist Day, the work of communication professionals in the midst of the great difficulties they are experiencing in the country today.

They assured that journalists jeopardize their physical integrity and their own freedom to keep the Venezuelan community duly informed.

The organization indicated that it is time to demand, from those who exercise state control, that they respect the rights to freedom of expression and information and to the exercise of professional information work, guarantees that have been severely and with impunity violated during the last twenty years.

They stressed that it is vital for the country to get out of the crisis, which will allow journalists to properly report on the exact dimension of the problems, help with their informative and investigative work, and provide society with possible ways of solving a problem. ..

“We have witnessed the gradual dismantling of the vigorous network of print and audiovisual media in the private sector that Venezuela had until the end of the 20th century. The destruction of the national economy makes survival of the media difficult. Thousands of jobs have disappeared, wages have vanished and collective contracts have disappeared, some of them more than 60 years old, “said a press release from the association.

Deputies congratulated journalists in their day: «Thank you for being the most difficult obstacle that tyranny has had»

Free Expression stressed that in order for journalists and the media to be able to fully carry out their information work, it is necessary to guarantee access to sources of public information and that discriminatory practices against independent media and in favor of official media also cease. .

They underscored the importance of ending physical attacks on journalists, from which not even female reporters escape.

“Arrests, intimidating judicial measures, the destruction and theft of work teams, or physical and verbal aggressions for the simple fact of covering the most visible aspects of the national crisis and the multiple citizen protests they generate are constant. . These affectations occur in hundreds each year and there have been thousands during these two decades of the political model inaugurated in 1999, “the statement said.

Regarding the state media, they reiterated that they only offer the population a one-way speech of propaganda and proselytizing.

“This June 27, Expresión Libre finally expresses its solidarity, support and admiration for Venezuelan journalists who, despite these difficulties, carry out their work with suitability and great merit, as evidenced by the important awards that they have deserved abroad,” they pointed out.