When asked by journalist guilds about recent allegations of news rigging against the newspaper La Prensa, the responses are lukewarm and evasive. No one knows anything, no one has read anything, or the answers fall back on the classic defense of freedom of expression. Unlike in other cases, the reaction shown this time is shielded by timid responses, even though figures who have been at the heart of the newspaper have publicly exposed its questionable conduct. On Saturday, for example, Ricardo Lombana stated that he has 'evidence' that from that medium 'they conspired to deceive the population with rigged publications,' and added that such practices 'have done a lot of damage to the democracy they once helped to recover.' The statements of the lawyer come in a context of high political confrontation and have generated reactions within the country's journalistic guilds. The president of the National College of Journalists of Panama (CONAPE), Lorenzo González-Palma, described the allegations as 'a very particular point of view' from Lombana and recalled that the country is going through 'a highly political environment.' González-Palma warned that expressions of this nature, especially when they come from public figures, 'can polarize public opinion and tarnish the public's trust in journalism as a fundamental pillar of democracy.' He reiterated that CONAPE remains committed to 'the practice of ethical and responsible journalism.' Meanwhile, the secretary of the Panama Journalists Union, Gilberto Gómez, preferred not to comment on the controversy, assuring that he has not yet reviewed Lombana's statements in detail. The lawyer and former president of the Panama Journalists Forum, Eduardo Quirós, for his part, stated that he is unaware of the allegations against La Prensa and avoided making additional comments. The Journalists Forum, in turn, stated that 'it reaffirms that freedom of the press is essential for democracy and warns about the effects of disinformation on public trust.' It highlights that journalism must be practiced with rigor, ethics, and independence and calls on society to defend freedom of expression as a pillar of human rights. Lawyer Domingo Barrios had previously warned how a short working relationship through his company Outsourcing Marketing Group allowed him to see this manipulation. In addition, he said that the medium has gone from being persecuted to being a persecutor. The lawyer and university professor, Hernán De León, for his part, emphasized that 'it is presumed that they used a medium that was once highly respected, with the aim of manipulating public opinion by creating a distortion of the truth, damaging the image of many people'.
