 It has been criticized by many Latin American journalists' trade unions, who claim that it only represents the owners of the large media corporations, that it does not seem to defend journalists themselves, and that it is closely related to right-wing parties.IAPA was conceived at the first Pan American Congress of Journalists in 1926, with a Permanent Commission established in 1942 after the second Congress.IAPA was founded in 1943, and in 1950 became an organisation fully independent of the region's governments.