The National Telecommunications Council (Conatel) of Ecuador ordered the closure of radio broadcaster La Voz de la Esmeralda Oriental Canela and rejected an appeal by the owner, journalist Wilson Cabrera, who is fighting the non-renewal of the radio's frequency, reported Fundamedios/IFEX.
The president of the government-run National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Raúl Plascencia, said killings, disappearances, and kidnappings of media workers and activists will be a priority for the agency in 2011, Milenio reports.
President Porfirio Lobo’s government has asked for the help of the United States, Colombia, and Spain to help investigate the killings of ten Honduran journalists who died in 2010, El Heraldo reports.
A Buenos Aires judge has ruled that demonstrators cannot block access to AGR, a printing company owned by the Clarín media group, and said the Security Ministry must take steps to guarantee the company’s ability to print, Clarín and La Nación newspapers report.
Recently inaugurated President Dilma Rouseff’s new communications minister, Paulo Bernardo, defended the need for a new regulatory framework for the sector, during his speech at the Jan. 3 handover ceremony, Terra reports.
The Inter American Commission on Human Rights presented a complaint against Argentina before the Inter-American Court of the Organization of American States for violating the freedom of expression of two journalists who 15 years ago revealed that ex-President Carlos Menem had a child out of wedlock.
Bolivia has finalized the rules governing its new "Law to Fight against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination", and the final bill will be enacted by decree on Jan. 8 by President Evo Morales, Los Tiempos reports.
The Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color reports that two of its journalists were interrogated and had their documents photocopied by police in Tarija, the largest city in the Bolivian state of the same name that borders Paraguay and Argentina. The reporters were in Bolivia to investigate the case against the governor of Tarija, Mario Cossío, who fled to Paraguay after being removed from office on corruption charges, EFE explains.
This year, Honduras was added to the list of most dangerous countries for journalists and the killing of HRN radio correspondent Henry Suazo the morning of Dec. 28 was one more on a growing list of crimes against journalists that remain unpunished.
Journalist José Luis Galdámez and his family deserve protection by Honduran authorities, according to an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, reported the Associated Press.