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El Salvador Mass Communications
By Central American standards, the Salvadoran media enjoyed a
moderate freedom of expression and ability to present competing
political points of view. They were not as restricted as the
media in Nicaragua, but neither were they as diverse,
pluralistic, and unrestricted as those of Costa Rica. Although
the government did not exercise direct prior censorship, the
owners of most publications and some broadcast media outlets
exercised a form of self-censorship based either on their
personal political conservatism, fear of violent retaliation by
right- or left-wing groups, or possible adverse action by the
government, such as refusal to renew a broadcast license.
Article 6 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of
expression that does not "subvert the public order, nor injure
the morals, honor, or private life of others." This language,
taken directly from the 1962 constitution, was rendered
meaningless by official and unofficial repression and left-wing
terrorist action against the media and its practitioners in the
early 1980s. With the post-1982 advent of a freely elected
democratic system of government, however, and the accompanying
decline in politically motivated violence, the climate under
which the press and broadcast media operated began to improve.
This expansion in freedom of expression was not as evident in
the print medium as it was in the broadcast media. Most
newspapers were owned by conservative business people, and their
editorial policies tended to reflect the views of their
publishers rather than to adhere to the standards of objectivity
normally expected in the North American or West European press.
This did not mean, however, that the Salvadoran press was
monolithically conservative. The weekly publication of the
archdiocese of San Salvador, Orientacion, presented
critical analysis of the political scene. Readily available
publications emanating from the Central American University
presented a generally leftist, antigovernment perspective on
events. Small private presses also produced pamphlets, bulletins,
and flyers expressing opinions across the political spectrum. The
leading daily newspapers in the late 1980s were El Diario de
Hoy, with a circulation of approximately 75,000; El
Mundo, with approximately 60,000; and La Prensa
Grafica, with approximately 100,000, all published in San
Salvador.
Freedom of expression in print was best exemplified by the
common practice of taking out paid political advertisements, or
campos pagados. Most newspapers accepted such
advertisements from all sources. Campos pagados were one
of the few means of access to the print medium available to
leftist groups such as the FMLN-FDR and other like-minded
organizations. Campos pagados also were frequently
employed by political parties, private sector groups, unions,
government agencies, and other groups to express their opinions.
The content of the advertisements was unregulated and uncensored.
Their cost effectively limited their use to groups and
organizations rather than to individuals.
The influence of the press was limited by illiteracy and the
concentration of publishing in the capital. Radio did not suffer
from these handicaps and consequently was the most widely
utilized medium in the country. In 1985 Salvadorans owned an
estimated 2 million radio receivers. Although the majority of the
seventy-six stations on the air broadcast from San Salvador, the
country's small size and the use of repeater stations meant that
virtually all of the national territory was within broadcast
range. There was only one government-owned radio station.
Although the commercial stations tended to emphasize music over
news programming, the representation of competing political
viewpoints in news segments was becoming a common practice by the
mid-1980s. In addition to the ERP's Radio Venceremos, the
Farabundo Marti Popular Liberation Forces (Fuerzas Populares de
Liberacion Farabundo Marti--FPL) operated a second clandestine
station, Radio Farabundo Marti. Both stations served as
propaganda organs of the FMLN.
According to many observers, television was the medium where
increased political latitude was most evident. Television news
crews covered press conferences held by diverse political groups,
interviewed opposition politicians such as the FDR's Ungo and
Zamora, and investigated allegations of human rights abuses by
the military and security forces. Like radio stations, television
stations enjoyed virtually complete coverage of the country.
Television did not have the market penetration exhibited by
radio, however, because of the higher cost of television
receivers. A 1985 estimate placed the number of receivers at
350,000. There were six television channels operating in the late
1980s. Of these, two were government-owned educational channels
with limited air time. The remaining four were commercial
channels.
Data as of November 1988
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