Raúl Peñaranda Undurraga (born 1966) is a Bolivian journalist and political analyst.

Career

In 2015 Peñaranda obtained the Maria Moors Cabot for outstanding reporting in Latin America prize, granted by Columbia University. The jury said that he "is one of the most accomplished journalists in Bolivia today" and that "his strong stance against abuse of power and media concentration by the Morales regime, particularly in his latest book "Control Remoto," earned him relentless persecution by the government, which called him a traitor and a spy. He was the first Bolivian to obtain a

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Fellowship is a fellowship from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. It awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 2007. As a fellow, he studied two academic semesters focusing on topics related to development, democracy and political conflict. Peñaranda is a former

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

and

ANSA Ansa (Latin for "handle") or ANSA may refer to: Organizations * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency ** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above * Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia * Association of Norw ...

correspondent in his country and has also worked as a freelance contributor for the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

and a number of

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n newspapers. Since August 2008, he has written for

El Universo ( Spanish for "The Universe") is one of the largest daily newspapers in Ecuador. It was founded in 1921 and the first edition was published September 16 of the same year. Its headquarters are located in Guayaquil. The newspaper has been publi ...

, the biggest

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ean daily, and published a column for

La Prensa La Prensa may refer to: Argentina * ''La Prensa'' (Buenos Aires) Bolivia * ''La Prensa'' (La Paz), a newspaper in Bolivia Chile * ''La Prensa'' (Curicó) Cuba * ''Prensa Latina'', the official state news agency of Cuba Ecuador * ''La Pren ...

, a Bolivian newspaper. He has worked at several Bolivian dailies: He was managing editor of Última Hora, opinion editor and columnist of La Razón and director and founder of three local newspapers: La Época, Nueva Economía and

Página Siete ''Página Siete'' was a daily newspaper published in La Paz, Bolivia. It was founded on 24 April 2010. ''Página Siete'' focused on politics and economics, but it also had social and culture sections. The government of Evo Morales Juan Evo M ...

. He has published several books related to journalism and politics. He holds a degree in social communication ( Universidad Católica Boliviana) and is a graduate in advanced journalism (

Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

). In 2011, as editor of Página Siete daily, Peñaranda planned and supervised the award-winning series "Viaje al Corazón de Bolivia" ("Journey to the Heart of Bolivia"), a collection of 25 stories produced by three reporters and three photographers during a six-month, cross-country trip that provided a complex portrait of modern-day Bolivia. Because of this, in December 2012, Peñaranda won the " UNCA's Elizabeth Neuffer Prize", awarded by

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

in New York. Earlier in 2012, the Bolivian government pressed criminal charges against Página Siete and two other Bolivian media outlets for reporting on controversial comments made by Bolivian president Evo Morales. The news outlets were accused of inciting racism and discrimination. Peñaranda told the committee to Protect Journalists that Página Siete had accurately reported on Morales's remarks saying, "This is a lawsuit that makes no sense, and is only designed to intimidate independent media and limit freedom of expression in the country." He added that media offenses were supposed to be tried under the country's rarely used press law, which is part of the country's civil code. The charges were eventually removed and Peñaranda kept doing his job. However, on August 22, 2013, due to repetitive controversial government attacks and offenses towards the newspaper (that Peñaranda said to be "low, coward and vile"), Peñaranda made the decision to quit his job as managing editor. Among other things, he was accused of being unpatriotic over an international dispute, since his mother was born in Chile. The former editor of

lead during 2014 a subregional network that defends freedom of expression, called GALI(''Grupo Andino de Libertades Informativas''). This association of organizations has entities in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. He works now for ANF, a Bolivian news agency, and edits an international supplement for Página Siete.

Life

He is married to Bolivian social communicator Fatima Molina and has two children: Diego and Juan José Peñaranda.

References

External links

*http://www.ipys.org/cgi-bin/foto.cgi?posicion=33 *http://www.fundacionxavieralbo.org.bo/cgi-bin/koha/sislib/lib-material_ver.pl?codigo= *http://www.lavoz.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=92862 *http://www.paginasiete.bo *http://nieman.harvard.edu/inthenewsitem.aspx?id=100315 *http://eju.tv/2013/08/ral-pearanda-renuncia-a-la-direccin-de-pgina-siete/ *http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia/social/22082013/raul_penaranda_renuncia_la_direccion_de_pagina_siete *http://elgali.org/el-grupo-andino-las-libertades-informativas {{DEFAULTSORT:Penaranda, Raul 1966 births Living people Bolivian journalists Bolivian male journalists Political journalists