Reporters Without Borders criticized police violence against local and international journalists covering protests in Chile, and expressed concern for the safety of journalists in a statement released Monday, March 19.
A Bolivian journalist was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for defamation stemming from a article that linked a lawyer linked with corruption, reported the newspaper La Razón. This is the first criminal sentence against a reporter in Bolivia since 1997, added the news agency EFE.
An Argentine federal court convicted the newspaper Clarín for publishing an article that supposedly discriminates against women, reported the newspaper La Capital. Published on April, 5, 2009, the article, titled “The child factory: They conceive in numbers and obtain higher benefits from the state," was deemed "offensive" as it "inclined toward discrimination and psychological, sexual, and symbolic violence against women," reported the news agency UPI.
Colombian journalist and political leader Argemiro Cárdenas Agudelo was shot to death on Thursday, March 15, reported the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP in Spanish).
During a conference in Vienna, Austria, Bolivian President Evo Morales said there is "too much freedom of expression" in his country and that independent news outlets in Bolivia are his main opposition, reported the radio station FM Bolivia.
With more than one million followers, the Mexican newspaper El Universal has more Twitter followers than any other newspaper from among the top 100 dailies in Latin America, according to a website that ranks newspapers' popularity.
On Sunday, March 11, the Ecuadorian Association of Newspaper Publishers (AEDEP in Spanish) asked President Rafael Correa to end his campaign against the press and to focus instead on real problems that Ecuador is facing, reported the newspaper El Diario.
Online news consumption is becoming important around the world as audiences and investments grow exponentially. In the United States, digital media advertising revenue is increasing while traditional media revenues are decreasing, and in Brazil, online advertising revenue is expected to surpass print in 2015. However, not all professionals that work in the news industry are prepared to modify their print style of writing to a screen style, nor do they take into account the fact that online reading is different.
The Bolivian government approved a decree requiring media owners to guarantee transportation at night for journalists and other press workers, reported radio station FM Bolivia. The door-to-door transport is supposed to run from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
A U.S. journalist working in Chile said he was unjustly arrested, and criticized the police brutality that has worsened since multiple protests erupted in Chile in May 2011, reported the news agency UPI.