The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji), one of the most important and active journalism organizations in the country, was chosen as the 2013 Personality of the Year by the Make a Difference Awards, which have been organized by the Brazilian newspaper O Globo for the last 11 years. The newspaper made the announcement on Saturday Jan. 27, and highlighted Abraji’s contributions to freedom of expression and information in the country.
Ecuador’s National Secretariat for Communications (SECOM) has placed the freedom of expression organization Fundamedios under its administrative control. The organization believes this action seeks to harass them and fears it could lead to its dissolution.
The Ecuadorian government has asked cartoonist Xavier Bonilla, known as Bonil, to appear before the Superintendent of Information and Communication and explain the contents of an editorial cartoon published in newspaper El Universo that officials are calling defamatory. Seven months after Ecuador’s new Communications Law came into effect and created the office of the Superintendent, Bonil is the first media worker to be summoned by the new agency.
Trinidad and Tobago’s House of Representatives passed on Jan. 24 a bill that partially decriminalizes defamation. The bill will now proceed to the Senate for consideration.
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission will investigate the Jan. 23 murder of a journalist in Guerrero. It is the first killing of a journalist in Mexico this year.
The Ecuadorian government has asked cartoonist Xavier Bonilla, known as Bonil, to appear before the Superintendent of Information and Communication and explain the contents of an editorial cartoon published in newspaper El Universo that officials are calling defamatory.
A group of farm workers in the Paraguayan town of Capiíbary, in the central department of San Pedro, briefly held and tortured journalist Alberto Núñez earlier this month in the most recent violent attack against him.
In a new report published last week, PEN International, PEN Canada and the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law lamented Honduras’ transition to a life-threatening place where crimes against journalists often go unpunished.
Eight reporters were arrested on Monday Jan. 27 during a protest against the sale of the Chilean newspaper La Nación. The protest took place during the meeting of shareholders where the sale of the 97-year-old newspaper was finalized.
Since 2003, a currency exchange system in Venezuela has prevented businesses from importing certain products without first purchasing foreign currencies provided by the state. In 2012, newsprint, which is not produced in the country, was listed as not being a priority item, forcing newspapers to file requests with the government for foreign currencies in order to import it.
A court in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais has ordered the preventive detention of journalist Marco Aurelio Flores Carone at the request of the state’s district attorney. The editor of website Novojornal was jailed after he was accused of attacking several witnesses in criminal trials in which he is a defendant, newspaper Estado de Minas reported.
A controversial state secrecy law quietly passed by Honduran lawmakers last week was suspended Friday Jan. 17 after strong backlash from civil society groups including Reporters Without Borders, who said the law unduly restricted freedom of information.