🇬🇹 Prensa Libre

About Prensa Libre

Prensa Libre is published by Prensa Libre, S.A., and is part of Grupo Prensa Libre. The billionaire Mario López Estrada was previously a minority stakeholder. The newspaper is privately held and has not publicly raised external funding.

Prensa Libre was founded in 1951 with the stated purpose of maintaining an independent voice and providing impartial reporting, including on government transgressions, and is considered a newspaper of record in Guatemala. However, media bias and factuality assessments from major organizations like Media Bias/Fact Check, Ad Fontes Media, and AllSides are not available, leading Ground News to rate its bias and factuality as 'unknown'. Guatemala's press environment is challenging, with journalists facing violence, legal harassment, and threats from organized crime and political actors, leading to self-censorship. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Freedom House highlight a 'hostile' environment for journalists in the country, marked by ongoing 'criminalization' cases and judicial harassment. Prensa Libre has also had to disavow false content attributed to it circulating on social media.