The International Press Institute (IPI) is highly concerned at the continued deterioration of press freedom in Chile. As major student-led protests continue across the country, the frequency of attacks on journalists has risen sharply and the government has drafted a new law that would unacceptably limit both freedom of expression and the ability of reporters to work freely.

Reports of violence against journalists in Chile have come in a steady stream since August.  According to various news media, a reporter for the Australia-based Hispanoamerican Newspaper, Omar Iturrieta, and a Reuters photographer, Cristóbal Saavedra, were beaten with batons by Chilean security forces on 25 August while covering a declared general strike. On the same day, special forces raided the offices of a local channel, Señal 3, in the Santiago suburb La Victoria, roughing up several employees and destroying some of the channel’s material. In September, the Forum for Argentine Journalism announced that a journalist, Mario Giordano, and an accompanying cameraman, Marcos Novo, were surrounded and attacked by a group of masked individuals while covering demonstrations in Santiago related to the 38th anniversary of the Pinochet military coup. In addition to both reporters having their equipment broken, Giordano had to be transported to a nearby hospital with severe contusions.

The same month, despite providing his press credentials, Raúl Flores Castillo, managing editor of the online journal Dilemas, was detained by special forces for six hours after photographing the forcible dispersion of student protesters by soldiers. Castillo wrote on his blog that his video and audio footage of the event was deleted upon his detention. More recently, in October, Chilevisión journalist Luis Navarez was detained by police after complaining about aggressive behaviour toward his cameraman, Gonzalo Barahona.  Video shot by Chilevisión shows Mr. Navarez being forcibly loaded into a military van and driven away. The Association of Chilean Journalists (ACJ) further reported that two additional journalists, Nicolás Oyarzún of CNN and Jorge Rodrígues of Megavisión, were wounded by police while covering the student demonstrations.  In a statement, the ACJ declared that “such behavior [by the police] appears aimed at impeding the right to information and represents a serious threat to the exercise of journalism.”

The tumult in Chile began in May with student protests seeking to end both highly disparate access to quality education and the creeping commercialisation of the country’s education system.  Students at both secondary and university levels are demanding free, first-rate public education in place of the hybrid design currently in place. As part of Chile’s school-voucher system, approximately half of Chilean students are provided with government subsidies to attend privately-run schools, many of which operate on a for-profit basis.  In recent months, teachers, trade union members, and other groups unhappy with the Conservative government of President Sebastián Piñera have joined the students’ ranks, causing the protests to reach levels unseen since Chile’s return to democracy in 1990.

The government, which has been involved in several failed negotiation attempts with protest leaders, has responded to the disruptions through both violence –– repeatedly using water cannons to disperse protesters –– and laws designed to delegitimise the activities of protesters.  IPI is particularly troubled by the government’s new “Penal Code Reform Project” (colloquially known as the “ley antitomas”), which was signed by President Piñera and sent to the Chilean Congress for consideration on 1 October. Both the Chilean media and the Interior Ministry itself have said that the bill’s purpose is to clarify for law enforcement what constitutes criminal public disorder. Under the bill’s terms, anyone found to have “invaded” or “occupied” buildings of commercial, religious, or educational usage or “impeded” the free flow of persons or vehicles in streets, on bridges, or in other “similar public-use areas” will be subject to prosecution.  According to Reporters without Borders, which has obtained a copy of the bill, convicted offenders may be sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Human rights observers fear that the law is nothing more than a brazen attempt to criminalise the student protests. Indeed, the bill’s first provision gives law enforcement unfettered latitude in determining what constitutes an ‘occupation’.  A peaceful sit-in at a church or university would, according to the bill, be sufficient grounds for arrest and conviction.  Moreover, it is difficult to imagine how the protests could continue without interrupting the flow of people and traffic, since protests are, by nature, disruptive (otherwise they would have no effect).  UNICEF similarly denounced the law as a “form of censure” and its legal consultant in Chile, Nicolas Espejo, warned that the government risked violating the terms of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child as they relate to self-expression.

Equally distressing is the portion of the proposed law that effectively turns reporters into functionaries of the police. According to Chilean news media, the law gives the police the power to request photographs, film, or recordings taken by reporters that the police may then use to identify and prosecute criminal suspects.  Although the current version of the bill indicates that the turnover of material to police would be voluntary, the law would nevertheless place journalists in the unacceptable position of being pressured to further police investigations of protesters. Such a law further runs the risk of discouraging reporters from covering the protests in order to avoid the possible implication of participants.  The ACJ has responded by decrying the government’s attempt to “convert journalists into [police] witnesses,” labelling the provision “an act of repression”.

IPI joins the organisation in condemning this attack on the free exercise of journalism in the strongest terms possible. IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “This appears to be an unacceptable attempt to compromise the independence of journalists. The media is not an arm of the law; to suggest that journalists may be used as police operatives flies in the face of the democratic values to which Chile professes to adhere.  Furthermore, we urge the authorities to halt the use of force against journalists immediately.”

Latin America remains the world’s most dangerous region for journalists.  According to IPI’s Death Watch, 33 journalists have died in Latin America so far this year, including five Chilean journalists who lost their lives while on assignment, in an aviation accident.