The Brazilian Superior Court on Tuesday, March 6, ordered the publishing company Editora Abril to pay roughly $283,000 in damages to the senator and ex-president Fernando Collor de Mello, who claimed he was insulted in an article published by the magazine Veja, reported the news site G1. The publishing company can appeal the ruling.
A U.S. journalist working in Chile said he was unjustly arrested, and criticized the police brutality that has worsened since multiple protests erupted in Chile in May 2011, reported the news agency UPI.
In a statement, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the Ecuadorian government for "flagrantly" distorting information about what was discussed during a meeting between HRW and the National Communication Secretary of Ecuador, Fernando Alvarado, where freedom of expression in the country was debated.
A Paraguayan journalist said he received a death threat from Senator Robert Acevedo, reported the newspaper ABC Color on Friday, March 2. The senator denied the accusations, saying that it was an attempt to cause him political harm, added ABC Color.
A Brazilian court in São Paulo ordered the company responsible for the news site 24HorasNews to pay roughly $28,400 in damages to the newspaper company Folha da Manhã, which publishes Folha de São Paulo, for violating authorship rights, reported the site Prosa e Política.
A judge in Honduras refused entry to a television reporter wanting to attend the court hearing for a lawsuit that he himself had filed against a Catholic leader who assaulted him, reported the organization C-Libre.
Mexican senators approved a proposal ("dictamen de ley") that would require federal authorities to investigate, prosecute, and punish crimes against journalists or any attacks affecting the rights to access of information, freedom of expression or of the press, according to a statement from the Senate.
Venezuelan journalist Laure Nicotra criticized the arbitrary cancellation of the news program that she had hosted for five years on TV station Canal 7 in the state of Barinas in southeast Venezuela, reported the National Association of Journalists of Caracas.
On Thursday, March 1, a São Paulo court ruled that the newspaper publishing company Folha de Manhã does not have to pay damages to the Universal Church of God's Kingdom, reported the newspaper O Globo. Folha de Manhã publishes the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
A Haitian radio journalist was shot to death Monday, March 5, in Cité Soleil, the poorest neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince, reported Reporters Without Borders.
Three Guatemalan journalists were assaulted by prison guards while investigating prison conditions, reported the newspaper Prensa Libre on Wednesday, Feb. 29.
A coalition of about 50 media outlets in Mexico published a statement calling on authorities to guarantee safety for journalists of the newspaper Seminario Zeta, which is published in the border city of Tijuana, and which recently has received threats from a criminal gang, reported the news agency EFE.