National Press Club Statement on Peruvian Journalist Gustavo Gorriti

WASHINGTON–National Press Club President Emily Wilkins and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Gil Klein led a coalition of 10 journalism organizations and freedom of expression groups in releasing the following joint statement responding to the potential for legal action against renowned Peruvian investigative journalist Gustavo Gorriti, founder of IDL Reporteros.

“We are alarmed by the misuse of the Peruvian legal system to silence Gustavo Gorriti, a veteran investigative reporter who helped expose a sweeping network of corruption and collusion among Latin America’s wealthy and powerful.

“Gorriti, whose work has earned him worldwide recognition and a Nieman Fellowship, is now the target of a legal complaint brought by the political party of one of the Peruvian politicians whom he has investigated. The complaint, filed Feb. 20, makes the patently absurd allegation that Gorriti is engaged in a criminal conspiracy with the prosecutors who have filed cases based on his reporting. Should Peru’s Justice Department take up the case, Gorriti could be placed in pre-trial detention.

“This is a blatant attempt to muzzle one of Latin America’s best investigative reporters, the outlet that he has founded, and, by extension, any journalist who would dare to speak truth to power in Latin America. The tactics being employed against Gorriti are a page out of the authoritarian playbook, so well described by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa in her memoir, “How to Stand Up to a Dictator:” Relentless online slander followed by trumped-up legal cases pursued by a compromised judicial and political system. They are the same tactics behind the unjust detention of Jose Zamora, a Guatemalan publisher who has been in jail for nearly two years.

“Journalism is not a crime. Journalists like Gorriti are an antidote to the crimes of corruption and abuses of power.”

The following organizations and individuals co-signed the NPC/NPCJI statement:

• Freedom House
• Fundamedios
• International Center for Journalists
• International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
• National Association of Hispanic Journalists
• PEN America
• RootsAction.org
• Rosental Alves, founder and director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, University of Texas

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club