A bill that would criminalize leaking or publishing information on confidential criminal investigations and trials passed committee in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies May 31, O Globo reports.
In response to government attempts to approve laws regulating the press, the Brazilian National Association of Newspapers (ANJ in Portuguese) launched on May 26 a self-regulation program, reported Folha de S. Paulo.
Brazilian senator Delcídio do Amaral, elected by the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, is suing the news website Terra and reporter Italo Milhomem Santos for roughly $63,000 for publishing supposedly untrue information, according to Portal Imprensa.
Journalist Elaine Felchacka’s camera was allegedly stolen by three fans of the Coritiba soccer team based in Curitiba, Brazil, Paraná Online reports.
In September 2010, Folha de S. Paulo (The São Paulo Journal) used the courts to shut down the Falha de S. Paulo (The São Paulo Failure) parody site for infringing on Folha’s copyright in its name, website address, and graphics. Eight months later, lawyers for the newspaper have said the site can return in its original form if it does not use the visual aspects of the paper’s brand, explains the parody site’s blog, "Sorry for our Failure."
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and Brazil’s National Newspaper Association (ANJ) will hold the "International Forum on Freedom of Expression and the Judiciary” Friday, May 27 in Brasília. Participants will meet in the offices of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to discuss the relationship between press law and press freedom in Brazil and abroad.
After avoiding prison for more than a decade due to appeals, Brazil’s top court has said reporter Pimenta Neves must serve his 15-year sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend shortly after their breakup in 2000, The Associated Press reports.
Federal prosecutors in Brazil announced charges against João Dorileo Leal, a top executive at Grupo Gazeta, the largest media company in Mato Grosso state, for laundering money earned from illegal gambling, Folha de São Paulo reports.
Journalists from TV RBA and Diário do Pará newspaper were not allowed to witness statements made in court by Rômulo Maiorana Jr. on May 18, Diário Online reports.
The Brazilian police used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets against protesters and journalists covering a May 21 march in São Paulo in favor of marijuana legalization and freedom of expression, iG reports.