BBC: Catholic Church, Army taboo for Dom. Rep. media

Santo Domingo.- The BBC reports Wednesday that the local media consider the topics of the Catholic Church and the military “are generally avoided,” a view that also reveals foreigners’ widespread lack of knowledge of the country’s inner workings.

In the bbc.co.uk report ‘Dominican Republic profile’ the prestigious outlet affirms that “Ownership of TV channels, radio stations and newspapers is concentrated in a few economically or politically-powerful hands,” a statement which does mirror a reality.

It affirms that the country has several TV channels, many multichannel cable TV operators, more than 200 mostly commercial radio stations, and government-operated TV and radio networks.

“Press freedom is guaranteed by law and media outlets carry diverse political views. Some subjects, such as the Catholic Church and the army, are generally avoided.”

It adds that there were 4.6 million internet users by December 2011, including some 2.5 million Facebook users (Internetworldstats).

It mentions the press dailies El Caribe, Hoy, Listin Diario, El Nacional and Diario Libre; the television channels CDN, CERTV, Colorvision, Telemicro, Telesistema, Teleantillas, Antena Latina and Cadena de Noticias, and the Web outlets Dominican Today and DR1 as online news in English.