The Committee to Protect Journalists submitted a report on threats against the press in Latin American countries to the president of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, Joaquim Barbosa, on Wednesday, March 6, reported the Court's website.
Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez announced her intention to establish an independent news organization on the island when she returns from her world tour, reported Agence France-Presse on Sunday, March 10.
The International Center for Journalists named three Latin American journalists and a Portuguese designer who instructed a course for the Knight Center as the next Knight International Journalism Fellows last week.
Former Haitian President René Préval testified privately on Thursday, March 7, as part of an effort to re-open a criminal investigation into the killing of muckraking journalist Jean Dominique, reported the Associated Press.
The Association of Caribbean Media Workers asked Caricom -- an organization that promotes cooperation among Caribbean nations -- to discourage its 15 members from participating in a meeting of the Organization of American States
Two news teams said they were attacked while covering the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
The President of the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, Demostenes Martínez, announced yesterday that prison sentences for defamation and slander have been removed from the Penal Code reform, currently being reviewed in the legislature, said news website dr1.
On Monday, March 4, the Social Communication Council of the National Congress of Brazil approved a request to speed up voting on a proposal to federalize the investigation of crimes against journalists, said newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
The Uruguayan government has opened up six frequencies to community radio stations after a public call for proposals, said the website Voces.
In Brazil defamation currently carries a minimum sentence of only three months, but that could change to two years if a penal code reform project currently being discussed in the Senate is approved.