By Isabela Fraga
A doctor upset by a report written about him attacked the Brazilian journalist who wrote the piece on Sept. 1, reported the newspaper Gazeta de Rondônia.
Journalist and director of the online newspaper Tudo Rondônia, Rubens Coutinho, published an article about Dr. Sérgio Melo's involvement in an outbreak. After the article was published, the doctor's name was cleared.
According to the website Rondônia Agora, the doctor had threatened the journalist on previous occasions. The Journalists' Union released a statement requesting the authorities in the state of Rondônia take the "necessary steps" to ensure the doctor is punished, reported the website Rondônia Dinâmica.
2012 is considered the most dangerous year in a decade for journalists in Brazil, with seven journalists killed in the South American country so far this year. A report from the International News Safety Institute listed Brazil among the five worst countries in the world for journalists, along with Nigeria, Somalia, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
