Update (June 16, 2016): Journalist Marcelo Auler was permitted to republish eight of the ten articles censored on his blog. Judge Vanessa Bassani threw out the lawsuit for compensation filed by investigator Maurício Moscardi Grillo after finding an error in the original petition: the home address of the investigator is located in a neighborhood served by another court, which means the original judge should not have heard the case.
News outlets in Peru and Argentina took home prizes as part of the 2016 Data Journalism Awards given out on June 16 by the Global Editors Network (GEN). The awards recognize “outstanding work in the field of data journalism worldwide.”
In order to ensure a more transparent electoral process, on June 5, the Peruvian data journalism portal Convoca decided to carry out a project to provide readers, in real-time and from its own website, the results of the second round of elections for the country’s presidency. The news site also created a social media campaign where people could report irregularities in the voting process.
Journalistic associations and professionals in Argentina warn that a bill pending in the legislature threatens freedom of expression in the country. If the initiative is passed, reporters who disclose names and information of people who could be involved in crimes of money laundering and tax evasion could be arrested.
Following spread of the news that WhatsApp had blocked communication between the Rio de Janeiro-based newspaper Extra and 70,000 readers, the publication’s account on the messaging service was restored late June 9, according to information published on the daily’s website.
The decision of a judge in Barranquilla, Colombia to order a three-day detention for the director of newspaper El Heraldo, Marco Schwartz, and the imposition of a fine for alleged contempt of an order for rectification has generated controversy in the country.
Given the various policies of the current Venezuelan government that restrict the free circulation of information in traditional media, social networks have become an alternative for news consumption among Venezuelans. This is according to a study commissioned by the human rights advocacy organization Espacio Público.
In the span of a week, two respected journalists in Central America have died under mysterious circumstances. Journalists associations in Guatemala and El Salvador are calling on authorities to solve the deaths of television director Víctor Hugo Valdez and television producer Pedro Antonio Portillo, respectively.
In one of the most violent events for the press this year in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, at least 19 media workers were attacked while covering protests taking place on June 2, according to the human rights advocacy organization Espacio Público.
The newspaper Extra from Rio de Janeiro is known internationally as a pioneer in the use of digital messaging platforms, especially WhatsApp, in order to communicate with thousands of its readers. However, Extra said that more than 70,000 of its readers who access their WhatsApp accounts have been hampered by the sudden cancellation of the newspaper’s numbers on the messaging platform because robots have identified them as possible spam.
More than half of the deaths registered this year occurred in only two countries: Mexico (9) and Guatemala (5). Homicides and deaths were also reported in Honduras (3), El Salvador (3), Brazil (2) and Venezuela (2). Perpetrators were identified in only five cases.
The Panama Papers, the biggest leak in journalism’s history, led to a global investigative effort joined by about 100 Latin American journalists who were able to untangle how fiscal paradises work. Under the leadership of Spanish journalist Mar Cabra, the global data team from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was the brain behind the investigation that required an analysis of 11.5 million documents; the team proved that knowing how to deal with big data has become essential to investi