The Peruvian Publishing House, also known as Editora Perú, began its operations in 1976. Initially, the company was responsible for managing state newspapers. The group oversees two media outlets: the official daily newspaper El Peruano, which focuses on news, and opinions, and publishes the legislative acts of the Peruvian government, and the Peruvian News Agency (Andina), which provides news, images, videos, and audio reports covering national and international events.
Additionally, Editora Perú operates Publishing and Graphics Services (Segraf), a state-owned printing press. El Peruano, which was founded by Simón Bolívar in 1825, has a rich history, while Andina, established in 1981, has a more recent start.
Media assets
Publishing: El Peruano
News agency: Andina
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Editora Perú was established through the Peruvian Enterprise of Publishing Services Act (Legislative Decree No. 181) adopted in 1981. According to this act, Editora Perú was established as a “private law state company.” As a state-owned company, it is also governed by Law No. 27170. According to this law, it has economic, administrative, and financial autonomy, although it is part of the government organization chart.
The company’s management is overseen by a board of government-appointed shareholders. Like all state-owned companies in Peru, Editora Perú is held accountable to the National Fund for Financing State Business Activity (FONAFE).
The board of Editora Perú has the authority to appoint and dismiss the group’s general management. This board consists of seven members, four of whom are appointed by the government through FONAFE. One member is chosen to chair the board. Additionally, there is a representative of the Ministry of Education and “one or more” representatives from the industry.
The general manager appointed by the board is responsible for Editora Perú’s direction and can be removed by the board.
Source of funding and budget
In 2022, Editora Perú operated with a total budget of PEN 71m (US$ 18.1m), as reported by the company. Although about PEN 70m is categorized as “sales of services,” indicating that the company generates its own revenues, most of its income comes from governmental institutions. They pay for the publication of laws, regulations, and various decrees. This means that the company mainly relies on the state budget.
In 2024, the company operated with a budget of PEN 80.68m (US$ 21.4m), according to a company report.
Editorial independence
The state media in Peru presents government-related news more as propaganda than objective reporting. For example, an article on Andina’s website portrayed the president’s activities positively, stating that he was “overseeing works to strengthen health services.” Content analyses conducted for this project in 2021, 2022 and 2024 revealed a predominant narrative that consistently praised the president, while critical articles were only directed toward former presidents and opposition political parties. Even though Andina had previously published well-documented reports on corruption scandals involving Odebrecht, which resulted in the imprisonment of two former presidents and a former presidential candidate, as well as the suicide of former president Alan García, no reports criticizing the Vizcarra regime, which was in power until late 2020, were identified.
According to the Editor Manager of Andina, he viewed the agency as a platform for sharing official content rather than as a space for independent and critical journalistic reporting. In October 2020, Andina aired a report in which one of its managers revealed that the agency had recently entered into an agreement with the judiciary to use Andina’s platform for disseminating information from the judiciary, including interviews with judges. The manager stated: “The idea is that the information produced here in the judiciary can be distributed both by the Andean Agency and in the official newspaper El Peruano.”
El Peruano follows a similar approach by regularly publishing flattering articles highlighting former President Vizcarra’s statements and criticizing the opposition-controlled Congress for attempting to oust him. The newspaper generally only interviewed congressmen who did not support the dismissal of former President Vizcarra.
After the July 2021 elections, which led to Jose Castillo’s victory as president of Peru, the media owned by Editora Perú altered its coverage to favor the newly elected administration, as revealed by a round of content analysis conducted in February 2022. The Presidency changed again in December 2022 when Dina Boluarte replaced Castillo after his impeachment (following his attempt to dissolve parliament). The same findings were revealed by a content analysis covering Editora Perú’s outlets in March 2024.
Editora Perú has a Code of Ethics that establishes rules to ensure neutrality, impartiality, and pluralism. However, the same code of ethics requires Editora Perú to maintain permanent communication channels with state authorities and respond to formal requests for information from the state.
No domestic statute or independent assessment that would establish the company’s editorial independence has been identified.
August 2024