The Supreme Court has unanimously upheld a ban on a part of the media law that requires conglomerates such as the Clarín Group to sell off some of their assets within a year, Bloomberg News reports.
Former President Álvaro Uribe has assumed “legal and political responsibility” for actions taken by his former chief of staff, Bernardo Moreno, one of nine former senior officials sanctioned for the espionage scandal involving wiretaps and illegal surveillance of judges, opponents, and journalists, Colombia Reports, Associated Press, and El Espectador report.
A federal appeals court has overturned the acquittal of Sabrina Bacal and Justino González in separate suits for libel and injury. They were both sentenced to 12 months in prison and banned from practicing journalism for a year Hora Cero reports.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN–IFRA) has urged President Cristina Fernández to respect international standards of freedom of expression and to cease “the attacks by her government against independent media,” La Gaceta de Tucumán reports. See the association's statement in English.
Ana L. Urbina, a correspondent for channels 8 and 11, and five members of the Red Cross died when the ambulance and truck they were traveling in was swept away by the rain-swollen Tecolostote River in central Nicaragua, Boaco Department, El Nuevo Diario reports. (See EFE's report in English.)
The proposed Law Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination, introduced by President Evo Morales, was the target of journalist protests in 11 Bolivian cities on Friday, Oct. 1, the newspapers Los Tiempos and La Prensa report. In Potosí, journalists and news media went on strike for 24 hours, leaving the city without information, La Patria says.
The jury for the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award unanimously selected journalist Hollman Morris as winner of the prize that the German city has presented since 1995, EFE reports.
Two reporters ended up arrested on Sunday, Oct. 3, after being accused of defamation by electoral authorities during the elections in the states of Río de Janeiro and Rondonia, according to the local press.
Attackers armed with assault rifles opened fire on the headquarters of El Debate in the city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, at dawn Sunday, Oct. 3, La Jornada reports. No injuries occurred. The building’s façade was shot at least 17 times, Milenio adds.
Some 250 foreign correspondents have descended on Brazil to cover the presidential election Oct. 3, reported O Globo.