Threats, curfews, exile, perseverance - how Ecuadorean journalists survive in the increasingly violent environment

In Ecuador, 2024 set off to a dramatic start, as the whole country anxiously watched masked gunmen storm a local TV station and take journalists hostage on live broadcast. This was part of a series of coordinated attacks that spread across the country like wildfire, resulting in 30 car explosions and kidnapping of seven police officers - a grim reality of an ongoing war between the local drug gangs and law enforcement. How did this once peaceful, picturesque country descent into chaos in less than a decade and why have journalists become targets? Isabel Ponce, a founder of the progressive Ecuadorean media outlet GK helps is to make sense of this, in the latest episode of Trouble with the Truth. She tells Lana about her outlet’s ground-breaking investigative reporting and how the death threats force her reporters into exile. Isabela reveals the roots of unrest, threats that she personally faced and what can be done on a national level to protect journalists.