Brazil has a big lead as the country with the most government requests to remove online content by judicial order in the latest Google Transparency Report, released on Thursday, April 25. In the period between July and December 2012, the search giant received 1,461 court-ordered requests from governments around the world to remove content, including YouTube videos and search results, with nearly 43 percent of them coming from Brazilian authorities.
Carlos Manuel Artaza, a journalist in Paraguay was shot five times and killed on Thursday April 25 in Pedro Juan Caballero city, near the capital of Asunción, where he was hospitalized, reported newspaper ABC Color.
The independent Mexican journalist Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her research on the network of bribery and corruption that was a key part of Wal-Mart de México’s expansion strategy, recounted to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas how she joined the investigation begun by David Barstow of the New York Times into the Mexican operations of the world’s largest supermarket chain.
In an open letter, NGOs have warned the president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, of a possible plan to kidnap a journalist in the state of Veracruz. In the letter, the International Press Institute (IPI) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) urged Mexican authorities to investigate the situation and take necessary measures to guarantee the journalist’s safety.
Around 70 journalists from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal participated in the sixth Ibero-American Colloquium on Online Journalism, an addition to the International Symposium on Online Journalism with a regional focus.
Non-profit journalism companies get most of their financing from a single foundation or donor, but this model is not sustainable in the long term, warned Kevin Davis, director general of Investigative News Network, which supports 82 non-profit media organizations in 27 US states.
On Friday, April 19, the chief of police in Minas Gerais confirmed the participation of police officers in the killing of two journalists in Vale do Aço, reported the website R7. Members of the civil and military police are under investigation for the killings.
Facing the possibility that three more cases of killed journalists might expire this year, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, FLIP, demanded that Colombia's Attorney General take all the necessary steps to bring the cases to justice, said the organization in a statement.
The director and staff of freedom of the press organization Article 19 in Mexico received on April 19 a letter containing threats.
A police reporter in the notoriously dangerous state of Veracruz, Mexico, has been missing for 60 days, denounced Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French).
Various journalists have claimed that their coverage was restricted during the recent elections in Venezuela, won by Hugo Chávez’s designated successor Nicolás Maduro. According to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), some local journalists had problems getting into voting centers and were impeded by the authorities.
Colombian journalist Yesid Toro has been forced to leave his city after threats against his life, reported the newspaper El Espectador. Threats against judicial reporters are not uncommon in Cali Colombia; however, on this occasion members of the Judicial Investigations Section (SIJIN) of the National Police recommended that he leave the city, added the newspaper.