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Professionalism vs. partisanship in Nicaraguan newsrooms
Journalists apply new professional standards

By Kris Kodrich

After much speculation as to whether former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega would sign it, the mustached leader of the leftist Sandinistas arrived at the home of the woman who defeated him in 1990, made a few remarks regretting the Sandinista censorship of the 1980s, and signed a historic free-press proclamation.

On this auspicious July 4 night at the home of former President Violeta Chamorro, the three main presidential candidates for this year's Nov. 4 election all signed the Declaration of Chapultepec, a document based on the concept that no law or act of government may limit freedom of expression or the press.

While the ceremony might indicate a smooth road ahead for the Nicaraguan press, journalists in this Central American country have a different opinion. As the nation prepares for a change in leadership, journalists cite a couple of reasons for concern:

• The government of President Arnoldo Alemán continues to be criticized for favoring a pro-government newspaper as well as pro-government broadcast stations by placing extensive amounts of official advertising with them. The Inter American Press Association in July criticized Alemán for the action, which it called a severe curtailment of press freedom.

• The National Assembly last December approved the creation of a national journalism organization that would have the power to license media. While Alemán vetoed some parts, many journalists believe the law still violates international human rights agreements as well as the Nicaraguan Constitution.

Beyond the governmental moves, the Nicaraguan press also finds itself in a critical period of transition - moving from the partisan journalism of the past to a more professional and ethical style.

Alfonso Malespín, a journalism professor at Managua's Universidad Centroamericana, said Nicaraguan journalism is improving. "Journalists are more independent of the political and economic powers," he said, adding that journalists also are more conscientious of ethics and social responsibility.

The news media, which rank second only to the Catholic church in terms of credibility in public opinion surveys in Nicaragua, are gathering even more support from the public as they take a more critical view toward the upcoming election, Malespín said. "They are the only institution besides the Catholic Church that has the power to confront the political power in the country."

Cristiana Chamorro, Violeta's daughter and a member of the board of directors of La Prensa, said the presidential election will present a challenge to the Nicaraguan journalists who are used to the partisan politics of old. Journalists, instead of playing favorites, can help set a serious tone to the campaign. "The media have a tremendous opportunity with this election."

La Prensa changes for the 21st century

The nation's leading newspaper, the 75-year-old La Prensa, is leading the movement toward a more professional style of journalism.

After forcing out many of the old guard, La Prensa brought in Washington, D.C., -based media consultant David Hume to run the newsroom as executive editor, starting in April 2000. Hume, 55, a native Argentinean, immediately set out to rid the newsroom of its partisan ways. Even the publisher severed his ties to a Nicaraguan political party.

Besides eliminating much of the outright bias in the reporting, Hume also instituted other changes, such as implementing a team structure for different sections of the revamped newspaper, opening up full pages and double-trucks for longer explanatory articles, redesigning the newspaper to allow readers to more quickly grasp the main news items of the day, and providing resources for more investigative reporting. In August, La Prensa's efforts were recognized by the Inter American Press Association, which awarded it a 2001 IAPA Award for in-depth reporting. The La Prensa team of Roberto Fonseca, Eduardo Marenco and Jorge Loaisiga carried out an investigation in Nicaragua, Panama and the United States that exposed corruption, political favoritism and political pressures in the federal tax office.

Most of the changes at La Prensa were readily accepted by Nicaraguan readers, and the circulation of La Prensa steadily grew by several thousand to its current daily total of 37,000, a few thousand more than its main competitor, the more sensational and partisan El Nuevo Diario.

But when Hume decided to take away the Catholic Church's Sunday page, a storm of criticism erupted. Hume started a new religion page, "Religión y Fe" (Religion and Faith), to replace the page provided by the Catholic Church for nine years, "Lectura Dominical" (Sunday Reading). When the Catholic page disappeared in May, the church hierarchy was outraged and said, "God was being censored."

"I think it's a news-media directive to destroy the church at all costs, to discredit it," said Monsignor Silvio Fonseca, the editor of the page, was quoted as saying.

Violeta Chamorro, the former president who also happens to own one-third of La Prensa, also condemned the move, saying La Prensa has always traditionally been a friend of the Catholic Church. In a statement issued to the news media, she reiterated her profound respect for the church and said she had nothing to do with the decision because the other two owners - her brother-in-law and sister-in-law - had excluded her from the board of directors because of her political ties. "I hope the bishops and the other two owners of La Prensa quickly arrive at a satisfactory agreement for both the Catholic Church and La Prensa."

Hume defended the move, saying only 5 percent of readers read the Catholic page and the new "Religión y Fe" page covers all religions, making it more meaningful for the growing Protestant faithful, now estimated at 20 percent of the population of the heavily Catholic country. The new page will continue to carry a Catholic column, "From Vatican Hill," and the Nicaraguan church is welcome to contribute interesting information for the page, he said. "I want the church to give us something that's meaningful to our readers. If it's good, we'll find the space for it. If it's not, we're just wasting space."

Hume said the newspaper lost only 10 subscribers because of the change - while the newspaper Sunday circulation gained 1,000 in just a recent one-week period.

A changing journalism scene

Nicaraguan journalists have seen tremendous change in the past decade. Journalists began operating with relatively few restrictions with the democratic Chamorro government in 1990. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro is the widow of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, the martyred editor of La Prensa who was slain in 1978 while leading much of the opposition to the Somoza dictatorship.

Under Violeta Chamorro, most press restrictions were lifted. In fact, Nicaragua's press system was one of the freest in all of Latin America, according to independent observers. Before then, journalists routinely were subject to the censorship of the Somoza regime, which ruled the country from the mid-1930s to the Sandinista revolution in 1979. In the 1980s, journalists continued to face censorship under the socialist-leaning Sandinistas.

Nicaragua's newspaper scene in the 1990s changed rapidly. La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario and the official Sandinista daily, Barricada, were joined by La Tribuna in 1993 and by La Noticia in 1999. Barricada closed in 1998. By the end of the decade, La Tribuna was struggling to stay open and turned off its presses for good in 2000. The newspapers varied dramatically in content, appearance and politics. And the dailies turned increasingly to colorful photos, flashy graphics, short stories and other "reader friendly" techniques that U.S. newspapers were trying to appeal to younger and more time pressured readers. But circulations remained a fraction of what they were in the more turbulent 1980s, when a civil war was ripping the country apart.

This year, La Prensa regained the circulation lead over the pro-Sandinista El Nuevo Diario. La Noticia, which supports current President Arnoldo Alemán of the Liberal Constitutional Party, has a circulation of just a couple of thousand.

So far, Nicaraguan readers seem to support the changes being made at La Prensa. According to a December survey of 2,100 people in Managua conducted by M & R Consultants, Nicaragua, and paid for by La Prensa, it is the newspaper preferred by the targeted middle to upper classes, leaving the lower classes to the more sensational El Nuevo Diario. Another survey in March found that of the 398 people contacted who read a newspaper, La Prensa was the preferred newspaper of 59.8 percent while 38.1 percent preferred El Nuevo Diario. La Noticia barely registered at 0.3 percent.

In a June survey by Cid-Gallup of 1,254 people, La Prensa was the newspaper most read by 28.6 percent of the people surveyed and El Nuevo Diario was most read by 26.7 percent. La Prensa had paid Cid-Gallup to ask additional questions at the end of a political survey, which showed Daniel Ortega was leading the three major presidential candidates for the Nov. 4 election with 29 percent, followed by 26 percent for Enrique Bolaños of the ruling Liberal Constitutional Party and 17 percent for the Conservative Party's Noel Vidaurre.

Journalism professor Malespín said La Prensa has made great strides in the past two years. La Prensa is more concerned about ethics and political independence, he said. "The journalists are more professional now than before." Even the break with the Catholic Church has helped strengthen the credibility of the paper. "It helped move the paper away from its old alliances."

Total circulation of daily newspapers is dismally low in this Central American country of 5 million, mostly because of the desperate economy, which was still recovering from years of revolution in the 1970s and the Contra War of the 1980s when Hurricane Mitch ravaged the country in late 1998. "The people have to decide whether to buy a tortilla or a newspaper," observed Professor Malespín. "People prefer to eat."

The newspapers at the start of the 21st century continue to be engaged in a fierce battle for readers and for survival.

Even El Nuevo Diario, which long has been an all black and white newspaper, has started publishing photos in color on Page 1. But the pro-Sandinista newspaper shows no signs of becoming less partisan. Likewise, the little-read La Noticia continues to be supportive of the Liberal government, and survives largely due to the official state advertising provided by Alemán's government.

Challenges ahead for Nicaraguan journalists

Nicaraguan journalists are wrestling with what it meant to be good journalists in an era of unprecedented freedom. Journalists in the controlled press system of the past didn't have to deal much with issues like ethics and professionalism. Yet Nicaraguan journalists began to confront these issues in the 1990s and began to shift toward a different kind of journalism for the 21st century.

According to survey research presented by the author to the International Communication Association in 2000, Nicaraguan journalists who entered the profession in the 1990s differed in their professional attitudes from their co-workers who began in an earlier era. Younger journalists don't believe it is as important to champion values and ideas than do journalists 31 and older. A new breed of journalist in Nicaragua is following a more objective and professional approach to the news.

In an interview this year, journalism professor Malespín agreed with that assessment. "They are more professional now than before. They are more responsible and can better watch out for the public good."

The signing of the Declaration of Chapultepec by the three major candidates for president of Nicaragua, received extensive attention in the news media - the main national television station, Channel 2, covered the ceremony live, interrupting a popular evening telenovela, or soap opera.

When Ortega led the Sandinista government in the 1980s, he received much criticism from within the country and abroad, including the U.S. government, for censorship of the news media. The Sandinistas justified the action by noting that the country was at war, with the U.S.-backed Contras trying to overthrow the government.

Ortega, maintaining a small lead over his opponents in the opinion polls, said the Sandinista party had changed and acknowledged the errors of its past dealings with the news media. "We understand that to move peace forward, it is necessary to rectify those errors, and with the understanding that its ratification is a necessity, we come to sign this Declaration of Chapultepec," he said, before picking up a pen and signing the document. Later, the three candidates drank a toast together to celebrate.

The Declaration of Chapultepec was written and adopted at a conference organized by the Inter American Press Association in Mexico City in March 1994 to set forth the principles for a free press in the Western Hemisphere. Since then it has been signed by Western leaders, as well journalists, academics and others.

Noticeably absent from the July 4 meeting in Nicaragua was Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán, who has been criticized for favoring the pro-government newspaper, La Noticia, in the awarding of state advertising. He was invited by the president of the Inter American Press Association, but responded that he already had a commitment to travel to other regions. Even though that trip later was canceled, La Prensa reported, Alemán still didn't attend the press event.

On July 13, the IAPA issued a statement criticizing the president for a "systematic policy of discrimination in the placement of official advertising aimed at punishing news media."

The days of censorship may be over, but the challenges for the Nicaraguan press continue.

Kris Kodrich is an assistant professor of journalism at Colorado State University, where he teaches international mass communication and researches Latin American news media. His 2000 dissertation at Indiana University was about tradition and change in the Nicaraguan press. He is a former reporter and city editor of newspapers in Wisconsin and Florida.

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