Scholars Day Archive

Scholars Day: April 7, 2010

Media Silences: U.S. Coverage of Massacres in Central America

With different forms of government come different forms of controlling an opposing percentage of a countries population. For some countries, those who oppose policies of the government can speak freely, write columns in newspapers, and campaign against the implemented government. On the other hand, some governments suppress opposing groups with violence, placing the opposition party members in jail, and eliminating all civil rights to those in opposition. Military dictatorships commonly act this way and commit massacres against opposing groups and, sometimes, even against innocent people. The atrocious human rights violations that occurred in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador did not obtain the necessary media coverage in the United States to fully inform the American public of such events executed by military dictatorships in Central America. Through first hand accounts and the efforts of courageous journalist, today we have the undeniable facts of these massacres.