The reported cases of aggression against journalists in Mexico reached a total of 225 between January and September of this year. Of these, two of the journalists died and 33 left the country under threats. In addition to the violence of organized crime, a serious problem of institutional censorship also affects Mexico.
Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa, president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF in Portuguese), criticized the journalistic coverage of judicial topics in Brazil. In his opinion, the press has been monothematic and addresses topics on the agenda with little preparation.
Mexico, El Salvador and Antigua are ranked higher than Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia on a global ranking of right to information laws, according to the annual ratings prepared by Access Info Europe (AIE) and Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD).
The launching of news site Plan V was quick – almost as quick as the first threats the new publication received.
Update 10/18/2013: According to Reporters without Borders, all three journalists, along with Denis Noa Martinez and Pablo Morales Marchán (correspondents for Hablemos Press) who had been arrested Sunday, were released on Oct. 14.
Jineth Bedova Lima, Carlos Dada, Marcela Turati and Anabel Hernández are some of the journalists working out of Latin America mentioned in a list recently published by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) that compiles 100 of the most influential journalists covering armed conflict in regions around the world. AOAV is a UK-based charity group that focuses on reducing armed violence by hosting in-country programs, lobbying governments and investigating issues.
Agustín Edwards Eastman, owner of the Chilean newspapers El Mercurio and La Segunda, admitted last week to meeting with former CIA director Richard Helms and former U.S. National Security advisor Henry Kissinger shortly after the election of then-Chilean president Salvador Allende, The Santiago Times reported. The statement was made during his testimony in a trial investigating possible illegal activities by the media leading up to the 1973 coup, heightening the level of scrutiny El Mercurio has received for years regard
A Brazilian bill seeking to regulate Internet use is still under debate and Congress is set to vote on it by the end of October, according to Estado de São Paulo.
The complaints Colombian journalist Manuel José Martínez Espinosa used to air through his community radio program on Popayán, Cauca cost him his life. He was killed on Sept. 28, 1993 in front of his house as his wife opened the gate to their garage.
In the form of a letter, Reporters without Borders (RSF in French) has just taken up arms against a recently passed Grenada law that punishes offensive content posted on the Internet. The letter, drafted by Secretary-general Christophe Deloire, urges Grenada’s Governor-General to veto the Electronic Crimes Law so that amendments could be made to it to ensure that freedom of speech would not be threatened by its provisions.