In response to the accusations against this newspaper made in a series of anonymous articles published on Thursday, July 2 and Friday, July 3, and irresponsibly spread by the President of the Republic and other officials, El Faro clarifies to its readers: it is categorically false that in a meeting of our writing team in October 2017, or in any other space at this newspaper, there was a sexual assault or an attempted sexual assault.
We denounce that these accusations are part of an attempt to discredit the journalistic work of El Faro, especially the investigations that in recent weeks have revealed possible cases of corruption and nepotism in the current government.
El Faro has been the object of a series of attacks of various kinds against its journalistic work during the last year, attacks that seek to damage the credibility we have built over the last 22 years. We believe that any attack on journalism, attack on dissenting voices, or attack on pluralistic debate is an attack on democracy itself.
El Faro strongly condemns any attitude of violence against women, within our organization or in society, and is committed to combating these historically normalized practices both in Salvadoran society and in our workplace. Even so, we recognize that El Faro and some of its members, at certain times, have not met the expected behavior regarding gender equality and respect for women.
Between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, we received complaints about discriminatory sexist practices and harassment within the newspaper. One instance occurred in a meeting in Coatepeque, in which there was an incident of improper behavior by a journalist from our newsroom towards one of our colleagues. All the cases, including that one, were investigated and received an institutional response, both in the form of support to the complainants, and in administrative sanctions, when warranted. These complaints also triggered a process of internal reflection and debate in which the entire staff participated, and which led to the creation of a Gender and Inclusion Policy, which has been in force since June 2019. This policy includes protocols to prevent these practices from being repeated or reproduced.
In the last three years, the newspaper has formalized institutional processes that have resulted in greater diversity in our newsroom and in decision-making spaces. In addition, we constantly evaluate the functioning of the established mechanisms in search of permanent improvement to our dynamics as an institution and a media outlet.
Critical for this improvement is our Gender and Inclusion Committee, which includes permanent external consultation and is charged with ensuring compliance with this Policy, of continuing to promote debate and institutional transformations, and of ongoing training of our staff.
Our readers know our commitment to improve as a newspaper, as a space for equity, as a platform for debate and reflection, and as an institution. We are ready to collaborate, in any case, with the competent authorities. Similarly, we reserve the right to take legal action against those who, through slander, want to discredit the work and journalistic practice of El Faro.
We will continue to resist attacks on our credibility and conduct independent investigative journalism.
