DW interview with Plaza Publica editor in chief

Deutsche Welle has an interview with Plaza Publica's Editor in Chief, Alejandra Gutiérrez, which touches on a variety of issues, ranging from corruption to civil war era crimes to operating in such a dangerous environment.

Is corruption something covered by other media?

Actually, many of the media in Guatemala have been covering such cases in recent years, and corruption in general is a topic that's widely reported on. But a lot of media are overly quick to draw conclusions or they spread misinformation. And the coverage rarely addresses structural weaknesses in the system or ties between economic and political powers - issues that are creating conflict in our society -for example, when big companies pay for political campaigns, or political favors are exchanged in the context of big projects in the mining industry. These are the issues we try to focus on. We want to inform, grow debate and shed light on topics that are in the shadows. You need a lot of passion for this kind of work, and patience too.

I made this argument a year or two ago, at least part of it. It's not that Prensa Libre, El Periodico, Siglo XXI, and La Hora don't cover corruption cases. However, there is a reluctance on the part of some sources to go too far in their research because of the demands of writing for a daily, the threat of violence, lack of financial support for in-depth reporting, and financial dependence on political and economic elites who might be connected to the target of the investigation.

You can read the entire English-language interview here.