| Juan Pablo Cárdenas Squella | |
| Birth Date: | 1 December 1949 |
| Birth Place: | Santiago, Chile |
| Education: | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
Juan Pablo Cárdenas Squella (born 1 December 1949[1]) is a Chilean journalist and academic who has founded and directed multiple periodicals. He has won numerous awards for his work defending freedom of the press.
Born in Santiago,[1] Cárdenas attended and as a child.[2] He studied journalism at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile;[3] his thesis was titled: "The Press and the Peasant Reality."[2] While he was studying there, he began working for the university's magazine, Debate Universitario, which he would later direct;[3] he left that position in 1973.[4] In 1977, he founded the weekly magazine, which reported on the corruption and human rights abuses of Augusto Pinochet's government. As a result of his work for Análisis, Cárdenas faced physical and legal harassment.[1] He was detained seven times and, in 1987, sentenced to eighteen months of nighttime prison, during which he spent nights imprisoned and continued working during the day.[1] His nightly commute to prison garnered international attention, and he was accompanied by crowds that included colleagues and the media. One night, American playwright Arthur Miller accompanied him.[1] In November 1989, his house was partially burned down by unknown attackers.[1] He continued to direct Análisis until 1991,[4] when it closed due to declining circulation following the restoration of freedom of the press in 1990 by the government of Patricio Aylwin.[1]
In 1992, he founded the magazine Los Tiempos, which he directed until 1993.[4] In 1994, he became press attaché for the Chilean embassy in Mexico,[1] [4] a position he held until 1999[4] or February 2000.[1] In September 2000, he became director of the electronic newspaper Primera Línea,[5] managed by La Nación,[6] on the condition that he would be able to do "critical and independent journalism";[5] La Nación was majority-owned by the government of Chile.[7] He published several articles critical of the government,[5] and according to Cárdenas, he had been director "barely fifteen days" before the Secretary General of Government began pressuring him to resign;[6] on 10 January 2001, he was fired at the government's instigation.[5]
Cárdenas taught at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile from 1972 to 1973, at Catholic University of the North from 1974 to 1975, and at ARCIS University in 1990.[2] Since 1991, he has taught at the School of Journalism at the University of Chile, where he belongs to the Academic Senate.[8] During this time, he also taught briefly at the University of Viña del Mar (1993), Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (2002–2004), and University of the Republic (2005).[2] In 2000, he became director of the,[2] a position he held for more than eighteen years.[9] He is married with six children.[2]
In 1986, Cárdenas won the Vladimir Herzog Award.[10] In 1987, he won the Golden Pen of Freedom Award for his work for Análisis.[11] In 2000, he was named one of fifty original World Press Freedom Heroes.[12] In 2005, he received Chile's National Prize for Journalism.[9] Cárdenas has also received awards from the Latin American Federation of Journalists,, and, among others.[4]