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BiggerSIP report notes stable climate of press freedom in the country
The report highlights several specific cases of physical attacks against journalists. External Source
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic — The events recorded between October 2025 and April 2026 on the national territory indicate a stable climate for press freedom, with no evidence of direct censorship or coercive regulations.
This was explained in the report on the Mid-Year Meeting of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), which highlighted that the variables recognized by the IAPA’s Chapultepec Index, which gave it the highest score (82.17) for respect for this freedom in 2025, have remained without significant variation.
The report notes that the National Congress has not yet reached a consensus on the draft bill that introduces reforms to legislation 6132, which expands the guarantees for the practice of journalism, although there is strong resistance to one of its components, the one that creates the National Institute of Communication, under the argument that it may constitute a mechanism of censorship.
Reform
It is noteworthy that these incidents are occurring within the context of the reform to Law 6132 on Freedom of Expression and Dissemination of Thought, which remains pending congressional approval. The initiative seeks to expand guarantees for the practice of journalism, although it faces objections due to the creation of the National Institute of Communication.
The report was written by the director of Listin Diario, Miguel Franjul, who is vice president of the Press Freedom Commission for the Dominican Republic.
Isolated incidents
The document indicates that despite this “stable climate”, several specific incidents “interfered with the performance of journalistic activity”, such as that of journalists María Tejeda, from CDN news, and Natalia Estrella, from Teleuniverso, which occurred in December, who were attacked by personnel from the Santiago Water and Sewerage Corporation (Coraasan).
The incident occurred while they were covering a water distribution operation for the public in one of the sectors affected by the pipe rupture, which left the population without service for several weeks.
By the third month of 2026, a National Police officer cocked his gun, pointing it at a group of reporters, while other officers used pepper spray to prevent coverage of an arrest operation in Santo Domingo East involving a teacher accused of assaulting a child at a daycare center.
Relatives of the teacher were also accused of participating in the attack.
