Dominican press breathes a bit easier

Santo Domingo.-The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) presented this Tuesday the Chapultepec Index of Freedom of Expression and the Press, which shows how the Dominican Republic went, in the 2020-2021 period, to the fourth place of the nations in which a low restriction of freedom of expression is perceived, contrary to the measurement made for 2019-2020, when it was 14th place.
The IAPA’s annual barometer, which measures factors that positively and negatively influence press freedom in 22 countries, explains that the improvement of the Caribbean country is linked “to a change of government, after the presidential elections of August 2020, and consequent alterations in the legislative and judicial dynamics, captured by the experts consulted as favorable for freedom of expression and of the press.”
The measure is carried out based on four dimensions: “Informed citizenry with freedom of expression”; “Exercise of Journalism”; “Violence and Impunity” and “Media Control.”
In the first dimension, the Dominican Republic went from a classification of 11.6 in 2019 to 18.57 in 2021. It explains that in the first period there were “tensions caused by official propaganda, which included disinformation strategies and comments against critical journalists.”
It points out that in the second measurement a period was observed in which “after announcements by the new authorities in favor of the press and freedom of expression, the networks flowed with greater freedom, an aspect reflected in the non-imposition of measures against contrary positions.”