Amid the massive protests spreading throughout Brazil -- sparked by an increase in bus fares -- the mass media coverage also has become a target of criticism.
The killing of a 16 year old girl on June 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has captivated national attention for the last three weeks, as well as unfurling a media storm that has now turned into a topic of discussion. Critiques on the media immediately began following coverage of the case and reached their highest level with the publication in an Argentinean daily of several photos of the victim.
Nearly two months after Costa Rica hosted the United Nations World Press Freedom Day, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla announced that she would sue anyone who “defames” her on social media. The president’s lawsuit against a hotel owner who posted remarks about her on his personal Facebook page outraged social media users, who say it calls the country’s reputation for freedom of expression into question.
In a video interview with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas during Investigative Reporters and Editors' 34th conference last week, where von Bertrab and the New York Times' David Barstow received the organization's 2012 award in the large print/online category, the Mexican journalist adviced her colleagues to take advantage now of the freedom and access gained from these types of laws.
During her June 22 keynote speech at Investigative Reporters and Editors’ 34th conference in San Antonio, Texas, Turati, an investigative reporter at Mexican news magazine Proceso and co-founder of journalism organization Periodistas de a Pie, described the situation of the press south of the border, where dozens of journalists have been killed in the last 10 years.
With 108 out of 137 congressmen representing the ruling party, the new Organic Law on Communications was approved on Friday, June 14 by an overwhelming majority and without debating any of its provisions -- not even the ones that were added in the last moment.
The country in the Americas with the highest degree of press freedom may come to some as a surprise: according to Reporters Without Borders' 2013 Press Freedom Index, Jamaica holds the top spot.
Along with other citizens, several Brazilian journalists were attacked and arrested by the Military Police during the protests against the increase in bus fares in São Paulo, which began last week.
Journalists in Argentina had plenty to say last week about their sour relationship with the country's political leaders -- and the problems that threaten the profession from within.
The prohibition of the press from entering and covering the Venezuelan legislative body, which began a new session in February of this year. The situation, widely criticized by various organizations, is symptomatic of the tense state in which the country's media finds itself, even two months after elections put President Nicolás Maduro into power.