The Dominican Republic registered a slight improvement in terms of the quality of the press and investigative journalismas shown in the Index of Capacity to Fight Corruption (CCC) 2022 presented by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and Control Risks.
The country has a score of 6.72, compared to 6.06 last year. The variation represents an increase of 10.9% in terms of this analyzed variable, which is within the Civil Society and Media category of the Index of Capacity to Fight Corruption (CCC) 2022.
The Dominican Republic ranks 10th out of the 15 countries in the region analyzed in terms of the variable of quality of the press and investigative journalism. The country is surpassed by Uruguay (8.78), Costa Rica (8.34), Argentina (8.06), Peru (7.69), Brazil (7.49), Colombia (7.23), Chile and Ecuador (6.96) and Guatemala (6.82).
This variable occurs at a time when civil society expressed its concern about several bills in the country that would affect the freedom of the press to carry out their work and, according to the Inter-American Society of Press (SIP), they “overprotect” the leaders against criticism.
The IAPA pointed out that it is contrary to international standards to carry out a reform of the Penal Code of the Dominican Republic that would punish offenses against the president, ministers, legislators and diplomatic representatives with prison.
The criticisms led the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, to form an advisory commission that will present to the Executive Power a draft law that updates the current legislation on freedom of expression.
Abinader, through decree 333-22, established that the purpose with the creation of this commission is to unify criteria around the legislative regulation of the aforementioned fundamental right.
About the index
This index does not measure perceived levels of corruption, but instead examines 14 key variables, within three categories, such as the independence of judicial institutions, the strength of the investigation journalism and the amount of resources available to combat white-collar crime.
“Countries with a higher score are more likely to see corrupt actors prosecuted and sanctioned,” explained in this year’s report.
Continued impunity is more likely in countries at the lower end of the scale.
For the third consecutive year, the index covers 15 countries, which together represent 92% of the gross domestic product (GDP) from Latin America.
