Ladder: funding and ownership pressure, in South America

A government uses money, or its power over owners, instead of acting against reporters directly. Examples are cutting the funds of public broadcasters, forcing the sale of an outlet, steering state advertising away from some publications, and using licence reviews or merger approvals to press an outlet's owners.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Narrow this ladder

StageAnyRestrictPressurePunishSilenceEliminate

ContinentAnyAfricaAsiaEuropeNorth AmericaSouth AmericaOceaniaAntarctica

From (year or date)

To (year or date)

Apply Clear all

1. Restrict
2. Pressure
3. Punish
4. Silence
5. Eliminate

2Pressure

Using state power short of prosecution to change coverage: regulatory threats, licence reviews, funding cuts, lawsuits by officials, official "fake news" or "foreign agent" labels, advertising pressure, tax audits.

PEPeruRSF rank: not recorded

July 1997Alberto Fujimori

In July 1997, the government of President Alberto Fujimori stripped Baruch Ivcher, the Israeli-born owner of Peru's Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2 television station, of his Peruvian citizenship, making him ineligible under Peruvian law to own the station.

Sustained · 2 sources · Full entry

ECEcuadorRSF 2026 rank: 125th of 180

25 June 2013Rafael Correa

Ecuador's National Assembly passed the Organic Communication Law under President Rafael Correa, creating the Superintendency of Information and Communication (SUPERCOM), a regulator that issued more than 675 sanctions against journalists and media outlets over the following four years.

Reversed 20 February 2019 · 3 sources · Full entry

4Silence

Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.

BRBrazilRSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180

13 December 1968Artur da Costa e Silva

On the night of December 13, 1968, Brazil's military government, led by President Artur da Costa e Silva, decreed the Fifth Institutional Act, suspending constitutional guarantees and recessing the national Congress.

Unknown · 2 sources · Full entry

ARArgentinaRSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180

4 March 2024Javier Milei

President Javier Milei's government fenced off and shut down Telam, Argentina's state-owned news agency, calling it a public-relations operation for the prior Kirchnerist governments; unions and journalist groups called the closure one of the most serious blows to press freedom in decades of Argent…

Sustained · 1 source · Full entry

All ladders · Funding and ownership pressure: by country and year · The United States chapter