BACK ISSUES

The "devils" of the Peruvian Press
 By Jorge Salazar Cussiánovich

When President Alberto Fujimori carried out an auto-coup in April of 1992, a process of intervention in State institutions was started. At the beginning, the sector most affected was justice. Executive commissions were named for the justice sector, presided over by a high officer of the Navy, and for the Public Ministry. The commissions still exist and possess the power to name and destroy judges and government attorneys. Thus the independence of the judiciary ended.

Baruch Ivcher, majority owner of Channel 2.

 This process, which became solidified in 1995-96, had resulted in the citizenry's loss of credibility in the justice system. The feeling of juridical insecurity spread throughout the population. The freedom enjoyed by the press resulted in journalists not only carrying out their watchdog role that the state institutions were unable to fulfill but also becoming the channels through which many citizens directed their complaints and denunciations. Psychologically, they were compensating for the lack of justice or little hope of such, by their denunciations. Additionally, the corruption and shadowy acts of the National Intelligence Service, which included tapping telephones of politicians and journalists, assassinations and attacks, even against their own agents suspected of leaking news to the press, were subject of media investigations that worsened government-press relations. In 1997, according to Peru's Institute of Society and Press, the lowest moment in these relations was reached when the government withdrew the naturalized citizenship of Baruch Ivcher and stripped him of ownership of channel 2. This occurred after the station revealed the telephone espionage scandal.

During the auto-coup in 1992, there were warnings of things to come for the independent media. The day of the coup, the military were sent to all media outlets to control news coverage of the event. Journalist Gustavo Gorriti of Caretas magazine was taken from his home by the military and held in a military facility while knowledge of his whereabouts was being denied. Thanks to the action of a foreign embassy, Gorriti's name was not added to the long list of detainees who have disappeared in Peru. He now lives in Panama.

 Since then, the government has started to pressure the news media by threatening to send auditors from the income tax service. By 1997, the pressure on media owners was more direct from presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos and government advertising advisor Daniel Borobio. Well-known journalist César Hildebrandt broadcast on his political television program tapes of the two men telling one owner what news to use.

 If television is a good example of government pressure (between October of 1998 and September of 1999 the number of political programs on television dropped from five to two), the print press has also been a victim of this campaign.

The number of sensationalist daily newspapers supporting the government has proliferated in the last few years. There is one newspaper of national circulation that is clearly in opposition: La República. El Comercio, the dean of Peruvian newspapers, has been identified with a conservative editorial line. However, the last couple of years it has assumed a position of independence and distancing from the government with the publication of investigative stories about corruption at high levels of the government and in the Armed Forces. Both newspapers have become the targets of attacks from the government.

The Presidency is considered to be the main advertiser in the media. The magazine Caretas published an article quoting advertising executives as saying the state was the main advertiser during the first months of the year with $16 million in advertising followed by a brewery with $6 million. Part of this advertising is what sustains the sensationalist press that daily attacks opposition politicians an independent journalists.

The sensationalist daily El Chino on Oct. 13, 1997 carried an eight-page supplement attacking and defaming journalist Manuel D'Ornellas. D'Ornellas, who recently died in exile, was at the time one of the most respected editorial writers and critics of the government. The announcement beside the journalist's photograph promoted the publication of a series: "The Political Chameleons." The content of the articles against D'Ornellas indicated that government files on him had been consulted. It should be noted that the sensationalist newspapers don't have investigative reporters or their own files.

The Dec. 13, 1997 issue carried a new edition of the "The Political Chameleons" supplement, this time attacking César Hildebrandt as a "mental midget" and Cecilia Valenzuela as a "she devil." Both then had television programs.

The March 27, 1998 edition of the supplement had as its headline: "The Rabid Animals of the antiPeruvian Press: Angel Paez, Fernando Rospigliosi and José Arrieta, the Three Musketeers Against the Nation." Paez is head of La República's investigative unit, Rospigliosi is a columnist for Caretas and Arrieta was an investigative reporter for channel 2 until Baruch Ivcher was stripped of his citizenship. Arrieta went into exile in the United States, threatened with death and fearing arrest on charges he had helped an ex-intelligence agent denounce undercover activities.

Other supplements were also published. Daily, the newspapers El Chino and El Tío carry articles attacking independent journalists, such as Gustavo Mohme, Luis Iberico, Baruch Ivcher, and Edmundo Cruz. So far, there have been 86 articles against Mohme, 50 against Paez and 30 against Hildebrandt. Headlines have included: "Gustavo Mohme, the preaching devil, from communist conspirator to false democrat"; "Rospiglioso: undercover terrorist" and "paid coup provocateur"; "Judas Paez blackens Peru's name abroad," "Paez recognized as a traitor," etc.

 This prompted the Institute of Society and Press in June of 1998 to organize the visit to Peru of an international commission composed of representatives from the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters with Borders, the Freedom Forum and Periodistas de Argentina. During a meeting with President Fujimori, they expressed their concern about the attacks on independent journalists. The president took note. Three days later the sensationalist newspapers ceased publishing, although they resumed several months later, this time concentrating their attacks on the editor of La República and some other well-known journalists.

On May 31 of this year a new sensationalist newspaper appeared, Repúdica, a 16-page full-color publication with no address or telephone number. Copying the logo and format of La República, Repúdica carried such headlines as: "Paez and Hildebrandt continue to mislead their people. Liars!"; "Mohme leads a campaign against Peru" and "Hildebrandt takes an oath as knight of press freedom." According to an investigation by La República, Repúdica is published by the same organization as Mañanero and Chuchi, both of which presumably have ties to the government and the intelligence service.

La República launched two lawsuits, one before the copyright agency and the other before the Attorney General's office. The firm that publishes Repúdica refused to respond to a resolution obliging it to name its officers. The Attorney General's office filed the suit it had received on the grounds the copyright office was handling the matter. Between June 26 and September 3 nine issues of a new sensationalist newspaper called Repudio have circulated using the same format as Repúdica but using a new name to avoid any copyright problems. Although it carries a nominal cover price, the newspaper is distributed free throughout the city by mysterious people. The big question is: who is financing this costly campaign and with what purpose?

Many analysts believe the campaign has as its objective to discredit those independent journalists who do not support the government and oppose any further reelection of Fujimori. If this were so, it would be part of an electoral strategy: control those economically weak media and close the handful that attack the government. This would also include the daily attacks by leading officials against the prestigious El Comercio, whose news stories they have fruitlessly tried to knock down.

Added to the attacks are those on a Web page run by Héctor Faisal, a former Argentine military officer who is wanted on charges Argentina. Faisal faces two libel suits brought against him this year by journalists he attacked on the Internet. The two women judges who handled the cases were removed from office after issuing their first resolutions. At the same time, Argentina's request for Faisal's extradition was rejected on the grounds there was no evidence Faisal was in Peru. This, despite the fact Faisal had published notarized letters as the legal representative of the Web site and having residence in Peru.

If there are signs that link the government and the intelligence services to the campaign, one of the links was provided May 28, 1998 by La República: it published a fax sent from the company of Augusto Bresani, an advisor to the Army, giving the headlines for the next day's editions of El Tío.

The crisis had several stages. Fujimori failed to obtain amnesty for the military. He again distanced himself from Montesinos and is looking to arrest him. Tension is fed by hidden truths. That’s why the press continues to be of vital importance to the outcome. Even when the government leaves, public opinion wants to know what was hidden all these years.

 (Posted in Spanish Sept. 12, 1999)