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.
Reporters without Borders has asked Colombian authorities to provide protection for Eva Durán, a journalist who received threatening phone calls on Jan. 18.
Last Friday Judge Yvickel Dabresil accused nine persons – several of whom were close to former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide – of being involved in the 2000 murder of well-known journalist Jean Leopold Dominique. At the time, Dominique was openly critical of Aristide’s re-election, Reuters said.
Costa Rican newspaper Diario Extra has accused the country’s judicial authorities of spying on one of its reporters. Freedom of expression organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the case as similar to Associated Press’ experience last year with the United States government.
Guatemala's central taxation agency will begin next week an audit on newspaper elPeriódico, the daily reported on Wednesday. ElPeriódico called it "fiscal persecution" and the most recent government aggression against it.
To make communication a tool for young people to read and produce critical content and give a voice to their communities: this is the purpose that drove journalists Amanda Rahra and Nina Weingrill, who are responsible for Énois – Agência Escola de Conteúdo Jovem, located in São Paulo, Brazil.
The Law on Secret Information, discreetly adopted by the Honduran parliament on Jan. 13, endangers Hondurans’ access to public information and the transparency of their new government, according to various human rights organizations like Reporters Without Borders.
In July last year, opposition leader, former legislator and former presidential candidate Martha Roldós visited Washington D.C. to talk with possible financial backers about a new news agency she wants to create.