Amid the massive protests spreading throughout Brazil -- sparked by an increase in bus fares -- the mass media coverage also has become a target of criticism.
Threats against the press in Mexico increased 46% in the first half of 2013 in comparison with the same period last year, according to a new report from the organization Artículo 19. In the first part of 2013, the organization recorded a total of 151 attacks against journalists and members of the media, including two killings, one disappearance, four armed attacks, 26 threats, and seven violations of freedom of expression.
The killing of a 16 year old girl on June 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has captivated national attention for the last three weeks, as well as unfurling a media storm that has now turned into a topic of discussion. Critiques on the media immediately began following coverage of the case and reached their highest level with the publication in an Argentinean daily of several photos of the victim.
The army and police in Honduras, with assistance from U.S. agents, continue the search for journalist Aníbal Barrow, kidnapped on June 24 in the city of San Pedro Sula, according to the daily El Heraldo.
Nearly two months after Costa Rica hosted the United Nations World Press Freedom Day, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla announced that she would sue anyone who “defames” her on social media. The president’s lawsuit against a hotel owner who posted remarks about her on his personal Facebook page outraged social media users, who say it calls the country’s reputation for freedom of expression into question.
In a video interview with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas during Investigative Reporters and Editors' 34th conference last week, where von Bertrab and the New York Times' David Barstow received the organization's 2012 award in the large print/online category, the Mexican journalist adviced her colleagues to take advantage now of the freedom and access gained from these types of laws.
Nowadays women make up an important part of the media landscape in Mexico. According to the a study by the organization Communication and Information for Women (or CIMAC in Spanish), there are more women journalists in radio and television than men.
During her June 22 keynote speech at Investigative Reporters and Editors’ 34th conference in San Antonio, Texas, Turati, an investigative reporter at Mexican news magazine Proceso and co-founder of journalism organization Periodistas de a Pie, described the situation of the press south of the border, where dozens of journalists have been killed in the last 10 years.
Since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, Brazil has been known as a free country regarding free speech and access to information. Although both rights are guaranteed in the Constitution of 1988, there is a disturbing distance between the words written on paper and their implementation in practice.
With 108 out of 137 congressmen representing the ruling party, the new Organic Law on Communications was approved on Friday, June 14 by an overwhelming majority and without debating any of its provisions -- not even the ones that were added in the last moment.
The country in the Americas with the highest degree of press freedom may come to some as a surprise: according to Reporters Without Borders' 2013 Press Freedom Index, Jamaica holds the top spot.
In the last months, the term "passaralho" has been echoed throughout newsrooms in Brazil. This term for those fired from their jobs in the media has gained ground due to numerous cuts that the country's major dailies and magazines -- including O Estado de S. Paulo, Valor Econônomico, Folha de S. Paulo, and the Abril publishing house -- have announced since March.