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Honduran newspaper website hacked

The website for the Honduran newspaper El Libertador was attacked by hackers on June 28, reported IFEX. This is the second time the newspaper has been subject to digital sabotage since the 2009 Honduran coup, which El Libertador opposed.

The newspaper reported that when users clicked on the headline of an article about the National People's Resistance Front -- a movement created with the aim of restoring ousted president Manuel Zelaya to power -- a box opened that said, part of it in English, “The page www.ellibertador.hn says: Hacked by Francisco Pon." After clicking the "accept" button on the box, the page was re-directed to a website of the political organization Liberal International, explained Honduras Laboral.

Also hacked was an article about the protective order sought by lawyer and journalist Gina González, share holder of channel, after accusing Francisco Hernández Pon of threatening her, explained the Free Expression Committee and El Patriota.

El Libertador said that this was the second time hackers attacked the newspaper's website. The first targeted the article that reported the complaint González filed against Hernández Pon, replacing it with jibber-jabber, said the editor and founder of the newspaper, Jhonny José Lagos.

Hacking of newspaper websites is not that common in Latin America, although at the beginning of January, hackers posted false information in the Twitter account of Telediario, a news service in the Mexican city of Monterrey. The outlet's Facebook account and website also were hacked.

See here the article from El Libertador about the cyber attack.

Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.