While April 1 is April Fools’ Day in many countries around the world, the following day will be dedicated to finding the truth. The International Fact-Checking Network from The Poynter Institute has declared April 2 as International Fact-Checking Day in order to highlight the importance of fact-checking among readers.
Although the number of murders of Brazilian journalists has dropped to only two cases in 2016, violations against the press have manifested in other ways. The annual report from the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert) reported that, compared to 2015, last year saw a 65.5 percent increase in cases of violations to freedom of expression.
Judge Arnaldo Camanho de Assis, of the Federal District Court of Justice, suspended the censorship of Folha de S. Paulo's report on the blackmail carried out by a hacker against the first lady of Brazil, Marcela Temer. The decision came after Folha filed an appeal.
For almost thirty years, Lúcio Flávio Pinto has been the sole writer and editor of a unique and independent newspaper, which investigators and closely monitors in the powerful in Pará and the rest of Brazil’s Amazon region. His reporting made him a renowned and award-winning journalist around the globe, but also attracted threats and attacks.
In nearly eight years of anticipation for the 2016 Olympic Games, the reporters who occupied the city of Rio de Janeiro tried to understand one of the most complex Carioca characteristics to "translate:" the favelas. Between 2008 and 2016, the volume of articles published in the international press that mentioned these communities rose almost seven times, to a total of 1,094 reports.
Journalist Thiago Antunes was working in the newsroom of newspaper O Dia on Nov. 28, 2015 when news broke at dawn: 111 shots from rifles and pistols were fired by the military police at five youths in the Lagartixa favela in Costa Barros, a poor neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro’s northern zone.
Six months ago, 50 million tons of toxic waste was spilled into the Doce River from an iron ore mine in the city of Mariana in "the worst environmental disaster Brazil has ever seen," as qualified by President Dilma Rouseff, according to DW. The spill killed 19 people and destroyed the Bento Rodrigues district in the state of Minas Gerais.
In Venezuela, a country where restrictions on the press are rampant and access to public information is not guaranteed by law, being informed about government decisions can be problematic. That is why the Press and Society Institute (IPYS for its acronym in Spanish) Venezuela, with Transparencia Venezuela, is launching Vendata, an online platform used to easily display information contained in the “Gaceta Oficial,” the official government bulletin.
As Rio de Janeiro enters the final stages of preparation for the Summer Olympics, news media from all over the world are trying to understand the city and its contrasts. Inevitably, that includes going inside the favelas that are spread across the city and discussing issues like state violence, resident evictions and racism. But, it also includes exploring the art, music and spirit of people living in the favelas.