The Institute for Press and Society, IPYS, described a recent change in the legislative decree that regulates the National Defense System as a "serious attack" on the right to access information, freedom of expression and transparency.
Colombia's struggle to end impunity for attacks on journalists got the lowest score on the Freedom of Expression and Access to Public Information Index, according to the Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP in Spanish) on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
El Comité por la Libre Expresión, o C-Libre, denunció el martes que una empresa radial de Honduras censuró sin explicación un spot que la organización había contratado para instar a la democratización del espectro radioeléctrico.
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo accused two newspapers of conspiring against him after they published a statement from the Central American country's Supreme Court demanding he respect the judicial branch's independence, according to a report from the newspaper La Prensa.
After six years, Mexico’s drug war has left little to the imagination. With these haunting acts of violence, covering the saga has challenged reporters to go beyond gruesome discoveries.
A lawsuit brought against two journalists by a government official in Argentina sparked outcry from the media, according to the newspaper Clarín. The head of the Federal Revenue Administration (AFIP in Spanish), Ricardo Echegaray, sued journalists Matías Longoni and Luis Majul separately for "damages and harm," added the newspaper. The official asked for almost $275,000 in restitution from each.
The Ecuadorian media organization Fundamedios called for greater tolerance and mutual respect between state and private media in the Andean country, the group said on its website. According to Fundamedios, the polarized climate in which journalists practice their craft contributes to verbal abuse and insults between reporters.
The San Bernardo hospital in Argentina discharged the Bolivian journalist burned live on air, Fernando VIdal, on Monday, Dec. 10, after he received three surgeries, reported the newspaper El Tribuno. According to the journalist's son, Kim Romero, Vidal will hold a press conference on Wednesday, Dec. 12, and hopes to return to Bolivia within the next two weeks if doctors say he is ready to travel, the newspaper added.
The Brazilian government awarded its most prestigious prize for individuals and institutions that stand up for the defense of human rights to a killed journalist. The president's Secretary for Human Rights awarded the 2012 Human Rights Prize posthumously to Tim Lopes, reported the website G1.
The House of Journalists' Rights in Mexico warned that there were four cases of death threats in the state of Puebla, according to the newspaper El Heraldo.
Reactions were swift to the court's decision to suspend controversial articles in Argentina's new Media Law that would have required media giant Grupo Clarín to abandon some of its broadcast licenses last Friday, Dec. 7.
El Salvador's Supreme Court declared some of President Mauricio Funes' September 2011 recommendations for the Access to Public Information Law unconstitutional, according to El Faro.