Media and Democracy: The Past, Present and the Future of Press Freedom in Chile

Abstract

Today Press freedom in Chile is not a relevant issue because it is been thought that there is almost no problem related to freedom of expression. However, this Latin American country has a long history to tell. By means of media freedom, today Chile is an a good situation regarding the rankings of Democracy and Press Freedom in the world. But after years of hard struggles in the last 50 years, Chile enforce universal rights such as press freedom and freedom of expression. The experiences during the government of Salvador Allende and later Dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet cemented the path of the media and the journalism practices. Standing on this historical context, this study aims to discuss the working conditions that journalists had in the past and what they have today in relation to freedom of expression and the press freedom. To achieve that goal, 15 interviews were conducted to journalists who worked at different times in the history of Chile to demonstrate and understand the transformation of Chilean journalism in the last 50 years. Their experiences and perspectives will allow to open the debate on journalistic practices and the conditions of journalism in the past, present and future in Chile.