The Public Media System in El Salvador consists of a television and a radio station. Channel 10 is a state-run television that originally operated as part of a group of two channels, Channel 10 and Channel 8, but after the 1979 military coup, the lack of resources led to the demise of Channel 8. The Channel 10’s programming includes history documentaries, science and entertainment shows, cartoons, talk-shows and interviews, movies and news programs.
In 2020, the television channel launched Noticiero El Salvador, a new news-focused website with its own social media accounts, according to an announcement made by the government.
Similar programming is broadcast by Radio El Salvador, a radio station that was founded in 1926, a pioneer in Central American radio broadcasting. It was originally known as the AQM.
Media assets
Television: Canal 10, Noticiero SV
Radio: Radio El Salvador
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Canal 10 and Radio El Salvador are subordinated to the Communications Department of the Presidency. Canal 10 had been managed before, in turns, by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education. There is no law that defines the media in the National Public Media System. The General Superintendency of Electricity and Telecommunications is the broadcasting regulatory body in El Salvador and the Telecommunications Act is the main legal framework for the media sector. However, these instruments are in place to regulate the media generally (the privately owned and community media).
Source of funding and budget
The budget of the public media in El Salvador is fully reliant on the Communications Department of the Presidency of the Republic. According to official figures, the 2020 budget of the public media company hovered around US$ 3.3m (the Salvadoran economy is dollarized). In February 2021, the lawmaking body in El Salvador asked the Attorney General of the Republic to investigate the financing of Canal 10 and Diario El Salvador for allegedly breaching the Budget Law. In 2021, the budget of the public media earmarked by the Presidency totalled US$ 2.6m.
Editorial independence
The media run as part of the National Public Media System are openly pro-government. The newscast Noticiero El Salvador launched on Channel 10 in October 2020 was editorially designed to attack the opposition and promote the government. The show is simultaneously aired on National Radio. President Bukele himself bragged on Twitter about the newscast, describing it as a governmental information space. Channel 10’s editorial agenda is openly laudative of the government and critical of the opposition.
No domestic statute that establishes the editorial independence of the National Public Media System in El Salvador has been identified.
The El Salvador Journalists Association (APES) has a code of ethics that is supposed to apply to all the media in the country. However, the National Public Media System has no independent mechanism of assessment or oversight that would validate the editorial independence of its media outlets.
August 2023