On April 22, 2016, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights received a complaint against the Brazilian State for the 1975 death of journalist Vladimir Herzog during the country’s military dictatorship. According to the newspaper O Globo, "the Federal Attorney General has already been notified" and the Court must now hear from those involved to decide whether to accept the complaint.
Peruvian journalist Rafael Léon was sentenced for the crime of defamation on May 3, according to newspaper La República. The sentence, which coincided with the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, requires Léon to pay 6,000 Peruvian soles (about U.S. $1,800) in civil damages and to undergo a one-year probationary period in which he must comply with rules of conduct that include not moving homes and offering to sign a monthly record.
Starting June 2, broadcasters in Mexico may legally transmit information in any of the native languages of the country that are recognized as national languages, including indigenous languages.
On April 30 in Mexico City, Federal Police arrested a man suspected of murdering Moisés Dagdug Lutzow, Mexican media businessman and former federal congressman. Dagdug was stabbed to death at his home in Villahermosa, Tabasco on Feb. 20, according to news site Animal Político.
Peruvian journalist Fernando Valencia’s case will be presented before to the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), according to the newspaper La República.
Three Associated Press journalists were honored by the Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) this year for the “best reporting in any medium on Latin America.”
A Chilean magazine is facing a lawsuit for defamation from the country’s top government official.
For the ninth consecutive year, journalists from Latin America, Spain and the United States gathered after the International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) to discuss trends, challenges and success stories in digital journalism in the region as part of the 9th Ibero-American Colloquium on Digital Journalism.
In Venezuela, a country where restrictions on the press are rampant and access to public information is not guaranteed by law, being informed about government decisions can be problematic. That is why the Press and Society Institute (IPYS for its acronym in Spanish) Venezuela, with Transparencia Venezuela, is launching Vendata, an online platform used to easily display information contained in the “Gaceta Oficial,” the official government bulletin.
Journalist Francisco Pacheco Beltrán, correspondent of El Sol de Acapulco and radio station Capital Maxima 97.1FM, was killed on April 25 in front of his house in Taxco de Alarcón, Guerrero state, in Mexico. He is the fifth journalist murdered this year in the country.
The 17th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), a conference about online journalism organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in the city of Austin, Texas from April 15 to 16, advocated for the discovery of issues currently of concern to digital media around the world.
Nearly one hundred journalists from 13 Latin American countries, the United States and Spain gathered on Sunday, April 17 at the 9th Ibero-American Colloquium on Digital Journalism organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, thanks to support from Google.