“Silence Is Not an Option”

Something to ponder in connection with World Press Freedom Day: If you faced serious punishment for doing your job, would you quit and look for a new one? Or would you continue pursuing your chosen calling?

Releasing in the leadup to World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2026, this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch revisits the reporting at the center of the film The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador, and explores the risks facing independent journalists.

Among them: The team at the Salvadoran news outlet El Faro, whose work anchors the documentary. In conversation with FRONTLINE Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath, El Faro Editor-in-Chief Carlos Dada reflects on the outlet’s investigation that exposed evidence of negotiations between President Nayib Bukele’s government and gang leaders — and that drew intense backlash.

Dada, now working in exile like much of El Faro’s staff, describes the escalating pressure on his newsroom: accusations from Bukele, surveillance using Pegasus spyware, and sustained harassment of reporters. Despite those challenges, Dada frames the decision to keep reporting as a mission and a mantra: “Silence is not an option.”

The conversation also explores the broader stakes of the film’s reporting — from the history and evolution of gangs like MS-13 to the consequences of Bukele’s sweeping security policies, including mass incarceration under a prolonged state of emergency.

For Dada, the story is not only about his home country, but about the pressure journalists worldwide are under. As governments consolidate power and restrict access to information, he argues, independent reporting becomes both more difficult and more essential — offering verified facts in the face of propaganda and ensuring the public can still scrutinize those in power.

The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador is available to stream now on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, the PBS App and PBS Documentaries on Prime.