According to a report published by the Coalition ProAccess movement, the right to access public information in Venezuela is being restricted by the government, reported the organization Espacio Público, on Monday Aug. 13.
According to a court in São Paulo, the Brazilian press has the right to release all material leaked by government agents and confidentiality only applies to the police or judicial authorities who are responsible for it, reported the Counsel's website on Wednesday, Aug. 15.
Research from the International News Safety Institute (INSI) ranked Brazil among the five worst countries for journalists during the first half of the year. That places Brazil alongside Nigeria, Somalia, Indonesia, and Mexico, reported the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji in Portuguese) on Thursday, Aug. 9. As of June, at least 70 journalists and other news media professionals were killed worldwide because of their job -- that's 14 more journalists than the first six months of 2011.
Degree requirements to practice journalism in Brazil could be about to make a comeback. On Tuesday, Aug. 7, the Senate approved a bill to amend the Constitution that would reestablish degree requirements for journalists after the Federal Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional in 2009, reported the website Terra.
Officials of the Venezuelan National Guard seized the camera and deleted the work of a photographer who was covering violence in a park in the city of Barinas, in southeastern Venezuela, reported the National Union of Journalists on Friday, August 3.
In an editorial published Thursday, Aug. 2, the newspaper El Observador criticized the Uruguayan government of issuing a decree that censors violent images prior to their publication in the news.
On Thursday, August 2, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE in Spanish) said that it would investigate two TV stations and two newspapers in the country for allegedly violating the rules of the presidential elections, which will take place in October 2012, reported the newspaper El Nacional.
A public official from the Brazilian state of Maranhão was accused masterminding the killing of journalist Décio Sá, according to the hit-man's statement, which was leaked out on to the internet on Thursday, June 21, reported the Agência Estado.
On Wednesday, June 20, two UN Special Rapporteurs called for better protection for journalists during the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, reported the news site Rfi.
The trend of newspapers implementing paywalls is emerging in Brazil. Starting on Thursday, June 21, the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo will start charging a fee to access the content on its website, which will have the entire printed edition available, reported the same newspaper.