The government of Álvaro Colom has denounced a supposed plot to destabilize the country by various groups who are supported by "biased media" that "sell their pens to the highest bidder,” reported Siglo XXI and EFE.
The Interior Minister has blamed Clarín media group owner, Ernestina Herrera de Noble, and her two children for difficulties in determining whether the siblings Marcela and Felipe Noble were adopted from parents who disappeared during the military dictatorship (1976-1983), Europa Press reports. The minister accused them of obstructing justice.
The frustration of Brazilian journalists with World Cup coverage has drawn the attention of the international press. In an interesting report this week, the New York Times contrasts the proximity and informality of the relationship between reporters and athletes during soccer games in Brazil, with the distance FIFA and coach Dunga have imposed.
The Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA) published a statement denouncing a recent series of threats and intimidation against journalists. Violent reactions to investigative journalism has become a tradition, the group said.
Dissident Cuban journalist Guillermo Coco Fariñas, on a hunger strike for four months, is in critical condition and risks death, reported the website Cubanet.
Not only paramilitaries, but also government agents were involved in the 1999 killing of prominent journalist and humorist Jaime Garzón. El Heraldo reported that Colombian prosecutors ordered José Miguel Narváez, the ex-deputy director of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS, or Colombia's intelligence agency), be held for ordering Garzón's death.
The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) and the Dominican Guild of Journalists (CDP) denounced the death threats and aggression against several journalists in the towns of Nagua, Montecristi and San Juan, reported Diario Digital.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked the Brazilian government and legislators to approve a proposed Constitutional amendment that would allow killings and attempted killings of journalists to be judged at the federal level. IAPA issued a declaration and sent to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Congress members a letter signed by newspaper readers from across the continent.
Amnesty International reported that Cuba's repressive legal system has resulted in an atmosphere of fear for journalists, dissidents and activists, "putting them at risk of arbitrary arrest and harassment."
President Evo Morales enacted an electoral law that is drawing criticism from the opposition and the press for being a gag for the media during election times, reported La Razón.