A new report from the Fundación MEPI, an independent investigative journalism center, says that the regional press in Mexico cover less than 5 percent of killings, attacks and violence linked to organized crime in the country, and the silence imposed by the cartels has created "black holes of information."
The Chamber of Deputies passed a 2011 federal budget that includes more than $2 million for journalist life insurance, El Universal reports. The funds are set to go towards medical services, funeral costs, and damages.
Since she began her career as a journalist in the medium-sized city of Juiz de Fora at the age of 22, Daniela Arbex was always told she needed to move to Rio de Janiero, São Paulo, or Brasília to have an impact. But she decided to stay and work for Tribuna de Minas, a paper with a circulation of 15,000, distributed in a city of around 600,000 people. It was here that she became a renowned Brazilian investigative journalist.
The Superior Military Court (STM) has given the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper access to documents on President-elect Dilma Rousseff’s arrest and imprisonment during the dictatorship (1964-1985), Folha reports. Carlos Alberto Soares, the court’s top justice, had previously denied the paper access to the information, saying he was attempting to prevent it from being used for political purposes during the presidential election campaign.
Journalist Rodrigo Sepúlveda of Radio Nihuil in Mendoza, Argentina, was robbed and threatened by three armed men who stole his cell phone and wallet while he was broadcasting live on Tuesday from the La Gloria neighborhood, the newspaper Los Andes reports. Listeners could hear the incident live until the gunmen took the broadcaster's phone and turned it off.
Yoani Sánchez, the dissident author of the blog Generación Y, was honored for her work toward free expression in Cuba by the Denmark-based Center for Political Studies (CEPOS), AFP reports.
Angélica Ramírez, a well-known host on a TV station in Huila department, was arrested Nov. 15, El Espectador reports. The police accused her of connections with the FARC guerilla organization and charged her with extortion, terrorism, and the illegal trafficking of weapons, El Tiempo explains.
Líbero newspaper’s Gustavo Peralta accused several police officers of “abuse of authority and battery,” La República reports. According to the journalist, the officers broke his arm while he was covering a soccer game on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Several journalists were tear-gassed and beaten by security at a hotel in Cancún that was the site of a Sunday explosion that left seven dead and 18 wounded, La Crónica de Hoy and El Universal report.
President José Mujica accused the Argentine and Uruguayan press of manipulating his statements, after he generated an uproar for calling Argentina “a country cut in two” by polarization, after attending the wake of former President Néstor Kirchner.