The Salvadoran media landscape is varied. There is a combination of traditional outlets, mostly print (El Diario de Hoy, La Prensa Gráfica, El Mundo), news channels and radio stations. There has been an emergence of digital media in recent years, many of which are dedicated to investigative journalism, such as El Faro and Factum. Part of the independent press operates from exile or with displaced teams. Using public funds, the executive branch under President Nayib Bukele runs media outlets such as the daily newspaper El Salvador and the Noticiero El Salvador news programme on Canal 10, dedicated to disseminating official messaging.

Since taking office in June 2019, President Nayib Bukele — now in his second term as of 2024 — has attacked and threatened journalists critical of his government. The media face severe restrictions on access to information and their work environment is marked by online harassment, surveillance and self-censorship. Some journalists have confirmed being targeted by the spyware Pegasus. The government has tightened its grip on the information space, relying on a centralised communications apparatus and anti-press narratives amplified on social media, which have become a key instrument of executive power.

In El Salvador, the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, which has not prevented President Bukele from declaring all information about public spending to be confidential since the COVID-19 pandemic. Two laws have strengthened state control: a cybersecurity law, which established an agency under presidential authority that regulates cybersecurity and data protection, and a data protection law that introduced the "right to be forgotten," allowing the new agency to order the removal of online information. Since March 2022, the country has been under a state of emergency that suspends constitutional guarantees, extends arbitrary detentions, and violates the confidentiality of private communications. In 2025, the Foreign Agents Law was approved, imposing a 30% tax on funds originating from abroad, which could have repercussions on the sustainability of media outlets and organisations.

Due to the dominant anti-press rhetoric, journalists face attacks on social media and in some cases threats against their physical safety and equipment. Senior officials have also been responsible for attacks and smear campaigns. Most of the journalists who have been attacked are women.

No journalist has been murdered in El Salvador since 2016, but Víctor Barahona, detained from June 2022 to May 2023, became the first media professional to be imprisoned under the state of emergency. Journalists regularly face threats and the seizure of their equipment.  In 2025, these abuses caused an increase in journalists fleeing into exile, to the point where entire newsrooms relocated to other countries. This phenomenon led to the creation of the Intermedios Journalistic Association, which in its first year brought together at least 12 outlets and 50 independent Salvadoran journalists in exile.