The Chilean government denied a passport to a journalist for the second time because of "opinion crimes" committed 61 years ago, during the administration of President Gabriel González Videla, reported the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP in Spanish).
Degree requirements to practice journalism in Brazil could be about to make a comeback. On Tuesday, Aug. 7, the Senate approved a bill to amend the Constitution that would reestablish degree requirements for journalists after the Federal Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional in 2009, reported the website Terra.
A Brazilian photojournalist was arrested and handcuffed by a police officer while filming an accident involving a military police car that left five injured in Goiânia, on Thursday, Aug. 9, reported the news portal G1. The cameraman works for the TV station TV Goiânia in the state of Goiás.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and several other international press organizations took the opportunity to express their mounting concern over the state of freedom of expression in Argentina and Ecuador during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which took place on July 12 in Santiago, Chile, reported the news website Martí on Tuesday, Aug. 7.
In a new report from the Knight Foundation examining digital training and continuing education in newsrooms, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas was noted for its especially highly rated online distance learning program that in 2010 and 2011 trained more than 2,500 Latin American and Caribbean journalists, most of whom said they used their training and were likely to recommend it, and that the online training was as good as or better than traditional in-person training.
Gunmen sprayed the facade of the Mexican newspaper El Regional del Sur with bullets during the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 8, reported the newspaper El Universal. El Regional del Sur is published in the city of Cuernacava, near the Mexican capital.
In the state of Mato Grosso, in central-western Brazil, two Brazilian television stations were fined by the electoral court for broadcasting unfavorable reports about the administration of Mayor Juarez Costa of the city of Sinop, reported the newspaper Diário de Cuiabá on Thursday, Aug. 9.
Brazilian Minister Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court asked federal police to open an investigation into Wikipedia for its distorted and "ideological" posts, reported the newspaper Estado de São Paulo.
Journalists received a threatening letter in a sealed envelope at a radio station in Young, Uruguay, on Aug. 7, reported the newspaper El País.
Several Argentine journalists were attacked and their equipment stolen, allegedly by the political group Tupac Amaru, founded by Argentine leader Milagro Sala, on Friday, Aug. 3, in the province of Jujuy, reported the newspaper El Litoral.
Venezuelan journalists from private news outlets were not allowed to cover a presidential event on Monday, Aug. 6, reported El Universal.
On the night of Friday, Aug. 3, a Colombian journalist was injured after an attack with explosives near the community radio station where she worked in Saravena, a town in Arauca, on the Venezuelan border, reported the news agency EFE, and the newspaper El Tiempo. According to Caracol radio, those responsible for the attack are allegedly members of the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish), and the attack had targeted police.