"The president hates the media and we don’t like him either" : -Experiences concerning the freedom of the press among Ecuadorian journalists.

Abstract: The main purpose of this BA-thesis was to do a qualitative study of the Ecuadorian journalists' personal experiences of their work conditions in relation to freedom of the press. The aim has been to analyze their personal opinions regarding censorship, the media climate and if they feel there is press freedom for journalists in Ecuador. The material has been analyzed and then complemented by theories and earlier research. Among other theories we have been using Denis McQuail's freedom principle and view of structural influences together with Graeme Burton's view of censorship. Together with earlier research about censorship and the status of freedom of the press in Ecuador we were able to put the interviewees' answers in relation to both theories and research. Our analysis showed that the interviewed journalists felt there were many obstacles when it came to the freedom of the press. One obstacle was the strain on the relationship between the government and the press which affected the media climate in a negative way. The majority of the interviewees stated that there was no complete freedom of the press in Ecuador while the ones who opposed to this still felt there were difficulties. Some even questioned whether freedom of the press was possible anywhere in the world, which also shows the complexity of the subject.