Journalism as Resistance

Why It Matters

Dada’s testimony shows how investigative journalism can expose authoritarian lies, making press freedom essential to safeguarding democracy worldwide.

Key Takeaways

• El Faro exposes Salvadoran government's secret gang negotiations.
• State of emergency fuels mass arrests and systemic prison torture.
• Authoritarian populism erodes democracy via digital propaganda and institutional sabotage.
• Journalists must choose between profit-driven models or public-interest truth.
• Record journalist killings highlight urgent global press‑freedom crisis.

Summary

In a televised lecture hosted by the Reuters Institute, award‑winning Salvadoran journalist Carlos Dada warned that journalism has become a form of resistance against a wave of authoritarian populism sweeping the globe. Drawing on his experience leading El Faro, the region’s first digital‑only outlet, Dada framed the current crisis in El Salvador as a microcosm of broader democratic backsliding.

He detailed how President Nayib Bukele’s administration has repeatedly lied about its relationship with criminal gangs, the conditions in prisons, and the health of its democracy. El Faro’s archives—security‑camera footage, prison logs, intercepted calls and gang testimonies—prove secret negotiations, mass arrests of up to 100 000 people, and systematic torture. The vice‑president’s denial of these facts, Dada argued, is a deliberate act of deception.

Dada cited the 2025 Committee to Protect Journalists record of 129 journalists killed—two‑thirds attributed to Israel—as evidence that the assault on the press is now a global phenomenon. He also recalled Bukele’s UN selfie, the use of troll farms on TikTok, and the erosion of the Supreme Court, illustrating how digital propaganda and institutional sabotage reinforce authoritarian rule.

The lecture concludes that journalists face a stark choice: sacrifice commercial interests to preserve investigative rigor, or capitulate to algorithms and state pressure. Dada’s call to protect truth‑seeking institutions resonates beyond Central America, urging media owners, donors and democratic governments to defend press freedom before the global trend toward “post‑totalitarian” regimes becomes irreversible.

Original Description

The 2026 Reuters Memorial Lecture