In response to allegations of 23 journalists injured during police repression of social protests in Paraguay, the government of that country announced the coming adoption of a security protocol for journalists at risk.
Civil society representatives from Uruguay called on their government to effectively implement the Law of Audiovisual Communication Services (SCA for its acronym in Spanish) and involve them in the development and implementation of the guidelines regulating it.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) documented the progress of jurisprudence on freedom of expression in the Americas in its recent report, “National Case Law on Freedom of Expression.” The report analyzes the time period from 2013 to 2016 in ten countries in the region.
Photographers from nine countries in Ibero-America were among the winners of the 2017 Pictures of the Year Latam (POY Latam) contest. The biennial competition awards excellence in documentary and artistic photography across Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States. This year, finalists from more than 1,900 entries were judged in Barcelona, Spain, and the winners were announced on May 27.
May 26 marked 56 days of continuous protests against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, during which journalists face aggression from police, armed collectives and protesters alike.
Chilean-Venezuelan journalist Braulio Jatar, who has been in jail since Sept. 3, 2016, has been released and is under house arrest.
Mexican journalist Martín Méndez Pineda, who sought political asylum in the U.S., voluntarily returned to Mexico after spending 100 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF for its acronym in French).
As of June 1, Gazeta do Povo, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the Brazilian state of Paraná, will no longer publish its daily print edition. The transition to a business model focused on digital mobile platforms is bold, considering the newspaper's audience: more than half of Gazeta's subscribers come from the print edition.
As many journalists have noted, the May 15 murder of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez was different from killings of other journalists in that country.
Civil servants who do not comply with the Law on Access to Information (LAI) in Brazil are not punished, according to a recent report from Article 19 Brazil, an NGO that defends freedom of expression and the right to information. The report was launched in celebration of the five-year law, which became effective on May 16.
Digital media sites are growing and many are becoming profitable — transforming, in every sense, the way journalism is made and consumed in Latin America. This was one of the most important findings of the study “Inflection Point,” that analyzed 100 digital media ventures from four Latin American countries, conducted by the organization SembraMedia with support from Omidyar Network.
Salvador Adame Pardo, journalist and owner of channel 4TV, was kidnapped in the afternoon of May 18 in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.