Host of radio show shot dead during live broadcast

Expression

On 20th November, radio host Hernán Choquepata Ordóñez was shot dead during a live broadcast in Camaná, in the southern region of Arequipa. Known to listeners as 'Randy Ordóñez', Choquepata Ordóñez was in charge of the 'Hablan los pueblos' programme, where listeners voice their complaints and express criticism of the authorities. 'The leading hypothesis for those investigating this crime must be that the motive was linked to the victim's work as a journalist,' stated Emmanuel Colombié, Head of Reporters Without Borders' Latin America bureau. According to his colleagues at Radio La Ribereña, Ordóñez had recently received death threats, which he had reported to the police.

The International Federation of Journalists, the National Association of Journalists of Perú, and the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) all condemned the murder. The IACHR urged the Peruvian authorities not to rule out any line of investigation, including that associated with the exercise of freedom of expression, as well as to make use of all of available instruments to identify, prosecute and punish the perpetrators and intellectual authors of the crime.

Peru is ranked 84th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2016 World Press Freedom Index. High levels of ownership concentration pose a threat to the freedom of information in Peru. A survey carried out between September and December by the Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) revealed a high degree of media ownership concentration as well as insufficient state regulation, and confirmed the dominant position of the El Comercio Group, Peru's most traditional newspaper conglomerate.